God in the eternal life and happiness of my body and soul which consists in my union with and fruition of God in heaven for ever which is effected by the Spirit and grace of God through the merits of Jesus Christ drawing my soul through faith in the Son of God made Man to himself who by the evil of sin both original depravation and actual Commissions am removed at an infinite distance from the love of God the fountain of happiness and placed in a state of Guilt liable to the justice and wrath of God and by consequence to eternal misery and Damnation II. A State not more miserable in it self than unavoidable by me unless the free grace immense goodness of the Almighty which brings sinners to repentance had prevented both my desert and desire by an eternal purpose of offering pardon life and salvation to sinful mankind which good pleasure and purpose in himself God hath clearly revealed according to the divers dispensations of his wisdom and providence even from the first promise of Christ made to the first sinners to the personal coming of the Son of God into the World to bear the Name and Office of the Saviour of Sinners and hath fully accomplisht and clearly reveal'd unto Mankind this undeniable truth of the eternal purpose of God to give pardon life and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ his only Son who became Man and died for the sins of the World and so satisfied the Justice of God for them that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life III. That great saying and most comfortable Truth Preached by Christ witnessed by the Apostles Dictated by the Spirit of God written by the Evangelists Confirmed by many Miracles delivered by the Church by constant Tradition and believed on in all ages this God requires me to believe as a certain and infallible truth in it self and by faith it becomes to me saving and comfortable It brings my soul to see by the law it s own sinful and desperate estate it calls me off from my self and all Creatures and assures me of immortal happiness for ever by adhering and relying upon Christ and that free grace of God in him and through him bestowed upon my soul IV. This faith and trust in the free Grace through Jesus Christ as it is first wrought by the word of God and his holy Spirit in my soul which is the beginning of this spiritual and eternal life so that it may be further nourished and strengthened to a farther degree of comfort and assurance God hath out of a wonderful Indulgence to our weakness and difficulty of believing annexed to his word these holy Sacraments as visible and most manifest Seals of this Covenant of Grace and Mercy that the soul might in no sort doubt of it nor be discouraged at the sight of it 's own sin and unworthiness when it sees the love of God and its pardon confirmed and assured to it by all its senses and his Saviour the great worker and teacher of this salvation by these sensible means lively set forth in his death and sufferings and himself with all his merits personally offered and conveighed to its self in particulars V. This then is the End to which this holy Sacrament as other means of grace is especially directed that it may be to the souls spiritual life of such efficacy as Food is to the Temporal life of our Bodies a means to maintain life to encrease strength and inward comfort to enable holy actions and cheerful obedience to assure our hopes and affiance in the great truth of God for the pardon of sins and bestowing the Son of God Jesus Christ our great Redeemer who is the Fountain and conveigher of life through these Conduits of the outward means to the penitent and believing soul Secondly The Author by whom it was Instituted I. Was the Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World who being the Lord of power and the Jesus of Mercy is both able and wiling to make this holy Ordinance the means of that Mercy and Grace which he promiseth to us which means are effectual to this supernatural end not by any proportion of innate vertue or Physical efficacy of themselves as food hath to our temporal life by the common rule and ordination of Providence but by a Spiritual Divine and most Mysterious appointment Instituted by our God and Saviour himself whose Authority only could Institute and whose power only can make effectual his Institution by uniting earthly sensible so small and unproportionable means to so heavenly spiritual and excellent an End II. So that in this great mystery though reason assures us in the general assent that the Omnipotency of God can make effectual whatever means he pleaseth in his wisdom to ordain to an end though never so unproportionable yet for the particular demonstrating of the matter of efficiency whereby such means do certainly convey to us so great an end and benefit Reason is quite dazl'd and blind having no ground to fasten upon but devolving all the work of this holy mystery to faith which relies upon the truth power and love of the Institutor Jesus Christ who while he was yet on Earth by a Corporal and Natural presence conversing with men but chiefly with his choice and Domestick Company the Twelve Apostles a little before his death Instituted this Sacred Mystery after his last Supper which he made with them III. By the evidence of this Sacrament exhibiting himself to them and all beliving souls in such an extraordinary and eminent degree of comfort and personal assurance as might greatly establish their faith and hearts in the near and dismal Times of his sufferings shortly ensuing and after his Ascention might be a continual memorial and Seal of the Covenant of Grace established in the death of Christ a support of the faith of Belivers a lively token pledge of his spiritual presence with his Church during his bodily absence till his second coming as also a badge of the profession of the Christian Religion and that mutual love and charity of Believers who are all united by faith to one and the same Saviour of whom they are all partakers in this one Sacrament as well of the invisible Grace as the outward and visible signs the bread and wine Thirdly The outward Means suitable to this end I. The choice of which familiar signs made by our Saviour for the outward means discovered a wonderful wisdom and no less love and condescention to his Church while he made choice of such things for the Representation of his greatest Grace and our comfort as best sitting this staâ—e of Senses and Infirmity such as for the Community may be had of all Nations and in all Countries either by native Commodities as in most or by cheap and easy Commerce with others whose abundance may spare though where the proper species of bread and wine cannot be had those means of nourishment
and favour of God detaining my mind in such degrees of ignorance as may render my sin less odious to me and make me less sensible of my misery and want of Mercy hardning and consirming my will against those Pious and Good motions by which the Spirit of God oftentimes attempts to soften it to an ingenuous submission to God and his Will disordering my affections and diverting them from those right Objects which Reason and Religion propound and my own Conscience cannot but approve VI. Which makes my sin out of measure sinful and dangerous so that in the shame and confusion which this sight of it self casts upon my Soul I have enough to do to see and weigh my own unworthiness and fill my Conscience with that fear of the Wrath of God and horror of Eternal Judgment which I confess might justly punish all my sins with despair and it as the greatest of all sins with Damnation And beyond these thoughts I could noâ— I durst not go in this gulfe of sin and the apprehensions of my misery should I sink not daring to send up the least thought to Heaven for a better Estate nor apply my self to the means of any Use or Happiness VII If I did not see by a Divine and Glorious Light of Truth a Hand of Mercy and means of recovery and Salvation stretched out to me and assuring me by the unerring and undeceiveable veracity of God and the infallibility of his Promises that his Thoughts are thoughts of Mercy and Pardon to sinful Mankind that he hath graciously found a way of satisfying his Justice and taking off the Guilt and Punishment of our sins from our Souls by the sufferings of Jesus Christ God and Man transferring the Guilt and punishment of our sins to him and imputing the Merits of his Righteousness to us upon condition we believe on him and cast our Souls how sinful soever they be into the Arms of his Mercy and by the serious apprehension of this infinite Love and Goodness be won from the Love of sin to Repentance and Amendment of Life Upon this Truth and Grace revealed by God to his Church and my Soul in particular I lay hold and cast my self with all the Guilt and Burden of my sins what aggravations soever for number or quality they admit being assured that they are infinitely less than the Mercies of God and Merits of Jesus Christ This wonderful Truth of God which I dare not I cannot deny this Mercy which above all things I need adds new Mercy to my dead and languishing Soul this represents God to me in the face of Jesus Christ as the highest Good most to be desired loved and admired VIII This shews me my sin in the true colours of ingratitude vileness end unworthiness against that Mercy which offers Pardon for my sin against a Saviour who hath died for me This stirs up a hatred and resolution against sin out of a principal love and apprehension of a wonderful desert and obligation of love and unspeakable Kindness to me that as I have the greatest cause that can be to be humbled in the sight of my sin and self so that the surest ground that can be whereon to settle my Faith and Comfort is the Truth and Mercy of God which by the Word Spirit and Son of God is assured to me that although by my sin I have highly displeased and dishonoured God Almighty yet by my trust and believing in his Truth and Promises of Pardon and Salvation through Jesus Christ I shall greatly please and honour him giving him the Glory of his Grace and Mercy by sealling to his Truth which to question or deny or not to believe is to make all my other sins unpardonable and add a sin of a higher nature than any I have yet committed that is unbelief or giving God the lye and its inseperable companion impenitency IX Won therefore and melted by this great certain and preventive Kindness and Love of God which in no sort I could deserve yet cannot deny or doubt of I grow dayly to see more clearly and embrace more firmly affectionately the Goodness of God to my Soul and from thence to a more tender sense and greater detestation of sin not so much now daring to sin as not willing to sin denying the motions and occasions to sin not so much out of fear of punishment as a love to please and an extream secret shame of returning evil to such wonderful Goodness abhorring sin not so much for the evil which follows it as for the evil which is in it and deformity and vileness of it which I see by the glymps of that Beauty and Loveliness which I discover in Holiness and Vertue the Image of God the highest Ornament and Happiness of the Creature X. Thus in some degrees freed from the Fear and Love of my sin Holy desires and good affections as followers of the Sun's Accession in the Spring begin to arise in my heart and though they suffer a great allay by the Earth of the Body in which the Soul is planted yet they assure me that the Spirit of God hath moved upon that Chaos the deadness and barrenness of my Soul and by a secret but most effectual influence hath made me a New Creature by ingrafting me into the Tree of Life Jesus Christ and washing me in that pure Fountain of his Blood which was shed for the Remission of my sins Thus now I desire nothing more than daily to attain a fuller Sight and Capacity of this admired Mercy that as my knowledge in the Greatness and Truth of it increaseth so my Faith in the applying of it may be strengthened my Affections in the thankful return of my self may be enflamed my Charity and Virtue towards others may be excited glad to have occasions really to express my Love Pity and Forgiveness of others that grateful Sense I have of God's Love to me in Christ XI And that the whole course of my Life may be so ordered as becomes one who is united to the Son of God not only by the Community of the humane Nature but by the efficacy of the same Holy Spirit and raised to the hopes of the same Glory and Happiness that now nothing is more acceptable to me than to meditate of this great Mystery of man's Salvation nothing more delightful than the thoughts of God reconciled to me in Jesus Christ nothing more welcom than the use of those means by which God doth further confirm and assure this Mercy and Truth to my Soul whose many failings though they often shake my confidence and obscure my comfort yet the sight of the Promises and the seals of the Sacrament annexed to them in which I behold Jesus Christ crucified does again establish my heart and assure me that the All-powerful Love and Grace of God will not be overcome by the sin and wickedness of man but will effectually repair the breaches of my dayly infirmities and satisfie the doubtings of
my misguided Conscience and further assure me of the pardon of my sins and interest in his love and favour by the renewed use of his sacred Ordinances XII To which he calls and invites me both by the outward overture of fit occasions and inward incitation of good and earnest desires to pertake of them as the pledges and conduits of my greatest comfort and happiness which happiness I esteem and seek after not only in a freedom from the punishment and misery of my sin but from the power of and the pleasure that seems to be in sin nor do I count it a less degree of Grace and Mercy which enables me to serve and love him than that which saves me from Hell Torments nor do I come to the Sacrament only to quit the score of my sins but to get strength and grace against them to deny mortify and overcome them which above all things that the World accounts will I most abhor and desire to avoid and am most grieved if I do not I make new and reinforced vows and resolutions between God and my Soul against my sinful self which although I have often failed to keep as I intended yet I am not quite overcome while I truly desire pray and endeavour to get the victory and am never more displeased than when I fail of it XIII Thus having tryed and renewed my repentance by my sighs sorrow and humiliation for sin my serious purpose and earnest prayer against sin my faith by my love of God dependence upon him submission to him desire to please him arising out of an apprehension and perswasion of his love to my Soul my love to God and my Saviour by my hatred of sin fear to and greif for offending by my love of his Servants delight in his word zeal for his truth and glory an earnest desire and stedfast hope to enjoy him and by my particular appetite and desires to this holy Sacrament as a special means of communion with my God and Saviour and pertaking of his Grace My charity and love to others by my care and endeavour by all means to further their Souls good by my affectionate prayes for them though they have deserved ill of me by my tenderness of giving offence my slowness to take offence by my grief when any arise by my proneness and joy in reconciling and though I find all these graces in me but in weak and small degrees with mixture of much infirmity and many imperfections nay a contrary power daily opposing and with much impatience striving to break the Cords of pious and solemn resolutions I am as well becomes me humbled and emptied of all opinions of my self XIV Yet am I not discouraged from coming since what did most deter me in it self from coming to Christ my sin and unworthiness is by the operation of faith made as the greatest incitement to provoke me to come being one whose great wants and unworthiness will afford a fit subject whereon to magnifie the Riches of that free Grace and infinite mercy which becomes the majesty of God and may answer the merits of our Saviour from whom as a principle of a new life I expect all the grace comfort strength and happiness which I want and to whom I give the glory of all that I enjoy who as the head derives to every part of his body the Church life motion health and whatever is in his own fullness and perfection whose love and compassion to my Soul to all Eternity will be too little to comprehend and magnify XV. Which that I may more fully discover I have a more lively assurance of be more thankfully affected and live more worthy of it I repeat again this sacred memorial and seal of his love and mercy having first sought by frequent earnest and humble prayer and in some measure obtained the assistance of his holy Spirit which by its preparatory Grace stirs up earnest and hungring desires to receive renew its habitual graces planted in my heart Knowledge Faith Repentance love of God charity to others and thankfulness by actuating a new before I receive assistance in receving by Sacred devout and pertinent Meditations seals and testifies to my Conscience my acceptance and efficacy of receiving by increase of holiness in my heart and care of better obedience in my life after the surest evidence and truest I can have or expect of my worthy receiving XVI Having thus faithfully discharg'd my Duty and Conscience in the way of preparation to the Sacrament though still conscious to and humbled in the consideration of my own unworthiness in any proportion to the great good I aim at yet I will not deprive my self of so neâ—r and inestimable a comfort by refraining nor dare l so far distrust the mercy of God and dignation of my Saviour who propounds not my personal worthiness in a strict sense as the object of my comfort and hopes in coming but his gracious acceptance and merciful indulgence such indeed as becomes the infinite goodness and honour of the Christians God and Saviour XVII The same holy frame and devout temper of Spirit I labour to continue in my receiving carrying my Faith by the visible Representations before me and given to me to behold its invisible but most credible object Jesus Christ crucified and dying for my sins whose love and merits I consider with as great an obligation of love thankfulness and obedience upon me as if he had laid down his life for me alone these meditations raise me to thankfulness to admiration to exaltation of the love of God my Saviour above all XVIII Finally so I endeavour to receive this blessed Sacrament as if each opportunity were my last as if I were to appear before God in Judgment that in the power of that grace I there receive I may live the remainder of my short life virtuously and holily in the hope of its reward and perfection in Heaven I may die willingly and chearfully in the Merit and Righteousness of it I may attain to the Resurrection of the just appear justified before God at the last and great day and obtain the Consummation of all in that glorious estate of Immortality with God and Christ in Heaven XIX The Duty of examining my self is by precept clearly enjoyning me by the Spirit of God let a Man therefore examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and Drink of that Cup 1. Cor. 11. Chap 28. verse which alone were enough to exact my performance but since all the commands of God who is the most perfect reason to rational Creatures are most reasonable though oft times ignorance or blindness doth not or will not discover it to the equity of this injunction my own reason must needs subscribe for knowing that every thing is received according to the capacity and disposition of the recipient and that a worldly sensual and meer humane mind is unapt to receive things intellectual Spiritual and Divine and perceive objects the
confirmed and exercised there repentance is employed and quickned faith is actuated and strengthned devotion and charity enflamed and kindled peace and concord is established there is the universal medicine for all our diseases and an ark of safety against all dangers there O my Soul thou mayest by the eye of faith behold thy crucified Lord and Saviour shedding his most precious Blood upon the Cross for thy sins and burning with an unspeakable desire of thy salvation There thou mayest look upon him whom thy sins have pierced and on him whom thou dost still crucifie afresh by thy sins dayly and hourly In the sufferings of thy Saviour O my soul thou mayest see as in a glass thy own vileness and deformities thy Saviours being mocked scorned and contemned discovers thy evil speaking lying and slandering his blessed Face being besmeared with spittle remembers thee of all thy unclean lusts and filthy communications that blessed Mouth which was guilty of no deceit was embittered with gall and vinegar which should mind thee of thy luxury and drunkennes his being scourged of thy stubbornness and disobedience III. O my soul dost thou not wonder that the King of glory should wear a Crown of thorns and for his Majestical Robes a little linnen for to cover his nakedness and thou to be guilty of pride and vain glory and affected with the pomps and vanities of this wicked World The Crown of Thorns which was platred on his Head with that rage and indignation should put thee in mind of the immoderate cares of the World with the sharp and piercing vexations issuing thence which eat up the consolation of the heart and all true sincere devotion of the spirit O let scorns 〈…〉 r thy sake be my glory and injuries and affronts my Crown lift up I pray thee upon thy Cross my miserable Soul which lies groveling on the ground out of this vale of misery O that thou would'st purge and thoroughly heal me with thy most precious Blood let thy wounds be a salve for my sinful soul and by thy stripes let her be healed of all her distempers let all thy pains grief and sorrows captivity humiliation and cross deliver me from Hell and purchase for me those joys and pleasures at thy right hand for ever and thy Death my life for evermore Amen A Prayer for Charity O Eternal God thou hast said that without charity we are nothing give me O Lord I beseech thee that Christian love and perfect charity that I may love thee O Lord my God with all my heart with all my mind with all my soul and with all my strength doing always in sincerity that which is pleasing in thy sight not returning evil for evil or raâ—ling for railing but loving my Neighbour as my self and being ready at all times to assist him in time of need administring to him according to his several necessities that at the last and great day I may give an account of my Steward ship with joy and not with grief grant this O Lord for thy Son Jesus Christ his sake Amen Our Father c. A Prayer for Saturday Evening on the most Holy Sacrament O Almighty God I beseech thee to seal unto me the pardon of all my sins and to grant all those petitions which I have asked in thy Sons name and let me now consider how transitory are all things how wicked is the World how impure is the flesh and how my self am deceitful grant that so I loose my affections from all such unworthy objects here below and then let me know how Eternal is thy nature how permanent is thy glory and how infinite is thy love bring me O bring me to morrow to thy royal feast with the badge of love and with the wedding garment so shall I be a welcome guest unto thee that eating thy flesh and drinking thy Blood I shall for ever dwell in thee my glorious Creator and thou in me thy blessed Creature Our Father c. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father with the sweet and comfortable fellowship of God's Holy and Blessed Spirit bless preserve conserve and keep me this night and all the days of my life at the hour of death and in the day of Judgment Amen Sixthly how to receive it worthily The Morning thou art to receive after thy usual devotions breath forth this Meditation Sundays Meditation WIsdom hath killed her beasts mingled her wine and furnisht her table Man's folly wrought his fall by a bit and wisdom repairs it by a feast a fruit did corrupt us and flesh and blood do preserve us a Lamb is slain for the Goat the just for the unjust the Son of God for the Children of Men and is this day offered as meat for the life of many I will go to that feast to eat of that bread and drink of that wine which is mingled for me the fruit of the vine with the blood of Gods Lamb O then good Lord let me be found in that purity thou desirest in them that approach thine Altar wash thou my feet and cleanse my heart that I may be clean and have part with thee for ever Amen A Prayer for Sunday Morning before thou goest to Church O Lord prepare my heart to Prayer O Most glorious Lord God behold a miserable and wretched sinner is now approaching to thy most holy Table to feast my soul upon thy precious Body and Blood at the primitive eating thou said the day that thou eat est thou shalt surely dye but here in the day which I eat I shall surely live Joh. 6. O Lord I esteem my self unworthy of the least crum that falls from thy Table must the Childrens bread be given unto dogs must such a vile wretch as I sit at thy Holy Table who am laden with sin and over pressed with iniquity But I come O Lord to ease my self of sin and to cast off the burden of iniquity and to bury them all at the foot of thy Cross I come O Lord to be purged throughly from my iniquity and to be sorry for my sins which are without number but not more than my dear Saviours blood can expiate II. O thou brightest Morning Star arise now with healing in thy wings and say unto my soul I am thy salvation O do thou now arise and let thy Enemies be scattered which are my lusts and vile affections and let them that hate thee flee before thee which is the Devil envy hatred malice and all uncharitableness make clean my heart O my Redeemer and pull down every strong hold and bulwark which opposes thy heavenly will and make me a fit guest at thy Holy Table to receive thee with a pure heart and strengthen me that I may have such a lively faith to pass through the vale and confidently look into the holy of holies this I beg for thy alone sake my only Saviour and Redeemer Amen When thou art at Church before divine
crosses and mercies may serve as so many steps in that Ladder that may carry me to Heaven mind me of my latter end and teach me so to live that I may not fear to die that when I die I may be sure to live in the mean time O Lord assist my weakness and strengthen my faith that I may receive with comfort that heavenly Feast which thou hast prepared for me and all that believe and call upon thy holy name in whose blessed name and word I conclude my weak and imperfect prayers saying Our Father c. Meditations for Tuesday Evening on the holy Sacrament I. BY means of this divine food the Soul is united to Christ and receives that strength and vigour which continually sets it forward in its spiritual ascension Who can give worthy thanks for so great a benefit Who will not be altogether resolv'd into Tears when he sees Almighty God united to him the more we go about to consider the excellency and vertues of this Soveraign Mystery the more do we want words to express it and the more doth our understanding fail us II. What pleasant sweetness and delightful Savours of a good life doth the Soul of the just man feel when he receives this divine Sacrament there is no other sound heard at that time but the musick of the heart which are vehement bursting out of holy desires and yielding of thanks all tending to the praise of the ever blessed institutor there the devout Soul through the vertue of this most holy and blessed Sacrament is altogether renued and replenished with joy unspeakable and fully satisfied with those good things which the richness of his mercy hath found out and doth bestow upon all true penitents III. Such are thy gifts O sweet Saviour such are the works and delights of thy love which thou art wont to communicate to thy friends by the means of this divine Sacrament and this thou dost to the end that we being filled with these heavenly delights should despise all vain and transitory pleasures Now what glory can be greater then this What gift more precious What benefit of more value or what greater token of love let all the works of nature keep silence let all the works of grace give place for this is a work exceeding all works and a singular grace above all graces it is the burning Coal from the holy Altar to enkindle the fire of the love of God in us the means whereby to receive grace the pledge of everlasting felicity and the treasure of a Christian Life IV. Our blessed Redeemer of the World intending to restore man unto his former dignity and to raise him up by grace as he had faln by sin did ordain and leave as his last Legacy this most divine Sacrament of his Body and Blood whereby man might recover his lost Estate and be made partaker of the divine nature we have it express'd in his own words Joh. 6. 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him Now when the time drew near that Christ should be betrayed and delivered up to death he communeth with his disciples after this manner Luk. 22. 15. I have an earnest desire to eat the Passeover with you before I suffer having so said he took Bread and blessed it in like manner he took the Cup in Consecrating the Elements of Bread and Wine his Prayers ascended to Heaven but his benefits remain with his Church here on Earth the visible Elements declare two things the one that he was to offer up himself an oblation for the redemption of the whole world the other that he would become unto the faithful by his means a divine sustenance for their Souls V. Consider what great care our Saviour hath shewed towards us in instituting this Sacrament seeing nothing could be given more excellent more dear when he loved his which were in the World he loved them unto the end he hath given us of his own Bread and of his own Cup nay he hath given us his own Body as Bread his own Blood as Wine for the nourishment of our Souls had he bestowed this so great a gift on Saints and Angels it had not been so wonderful but bestowing it on poor Sinners was love unspeakable O what shall we render unto the Lord for all the benefits we have received at his hands let us meditate on his Love and pursue that holy resolution with the Prophet David to take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. VI. Who is there now that will neglect coming to this holy Table nay neglect their own Salvation when they may purchase it at so easie a rate O Lord if to obtain this benefit thou hadst ordain'd hard Fasts long Pilgrimages shedding of Blood and other sharp usages all these labours and afflictions ought worthily to have been suffer'd to tast even but once thy sacred Body but O Love unheard of that hadst rather make the entrance easie and delectable that I might the oftner receive this great benefit O Adam how much better is the condition of thy posterity than thine own was which is now brought to pass by the means of our loving and liberal Jesus thou wert driven out of Paradise and that thou shouldst not return thither to eat of the Tree of Life and live one of the Cherubims armed with a fiery Sword was set by the righteous God to keep it VII We thy Children living in the Paradise of the holy Church are not only driven away by an Angel with a fiery Sword but are invited of the Lord of Angels by the fire of his Love to taste often the fruit of the Tree of Life yea to receive him who hath given all strength to it and that giveth us a blessed and everlasting life for so he inviting us hath promis'd he which eateth of this Bread shall live for ever Joh. 6. 58. A Solliloquy for Tuesday Evening I. O thou only begotten Son of Almighty God great and wonderful are the benefits O Lord which I have received of thee thou hast raised me from the mire and dust of the Earth and hast created my Soul of nothing after thine own Image and likeness and hast made it eapable of thy glory thou hast given me understanding memory will free choice with all my other Members and Senses to the end that with them I might know thee and love thee thou hast preserv'd me even while I was yet in my Mothers womb thou hast patiently born with me a long time after so many sins committed even until this present hour where as others having less offended then I are now per adventure tormented in Hell fire II. Besides all this it was thy pleasure to become man and to be conversant among men for my sake and for me to be afflicted punished troubled and covered all over with a bloody sweat to be taken bound buffeted and spit upon to be dispised blasphemed reviled and
great misery in thine endless mercy of carnal make me spiritual increase thy graces daily in me and for thy mercy sake remove all vain pretences of a false assurance from me give me that sincerity of heart in thy service that constant holiness and gracious perseverance that makes my Calling and Election sure IV. O thou glorious and for ever blessed Spirit who eternally enjoyest blessedness in the sweetness and fulness of thy self and yet most graciously communicatest happiness to us thy sinful Creatures that we might thereby spiritually know thee love thee 〈…〉 e thee and eternally enjoy thee vouchsafe me I humbly beseech thee the blessed p 〈…〉 e of thy holy Spirit that I may thereby become 〈…〉 iritual that I may no longer live af 〈…〉 destruction but daily m 〈…〉 ds of the flesh by the S 〈…〉 may thereby joyfully attain unto 〈…〉 V. Suffer me not O Lord any longer to delude my self with the shews and shadows of devotion but so guide me by the blessed motions of thy holy Spirit that I may dye truly and daily unto sin and live hourly unto righteousness Lord thou seest all my desires and my groanings are not hid from thee O! grant me this mercy and take from me what thou wilt even life it self without thee is bitterness unto me unglew my heart from the World and fix it wholly upon thee and thy service that so I may spiritually rejoyce in thee be graciously accepted of thee and ever blessed with thee Amen Meditations for Wednesday Evening a preparation to the Holy Sacrament I. AFter all these injuries Consider what Scourgings and Whipping our Saviour suffered at the Pillar for when the Judge perceived that he was not able to pacifie the furious rage of those his most cruel Enemies he determin'd to punish our Saviour with such a severe kind of punishment as might suffice to satisfie the malicious outrage of such cruel hearts that they being content therewith should cease and seek no more after his death II. This was one of the greatest and most wonderful fights that was seen in the World who would ever have thought that lashes should have been laid on the shoulders of the Almighty the Prophet David saith the place of thy habitation O Lord is most High and that there shall no evil approach near thy Tabernacle if the Blessed Angels fill'd the Air with high lauds and praises upon the day of his Nativity when as yet they had only seen him in swadling cloaths and in the Manger where he was laid what did they think when they see him so maliciously and cruelly handled III. Whither O Son of God whither hath thy humility descended Whither hath thy charity pity love and compassion extended For I have done wickedly and thou art punished I have committed the offence and thou art chastened with revenge the tree carried me to unlawful desire and perfect charity led thee to the tree of thy Cross teach me O Lord to mortifie my worldly affections and all vices that reign in this mortal body O pour into my wounds the Oyl of thy goodness that I may come with that health unto thy holy Table as becomes a worthy receiver Let nothing be sweet I pray thee unto me without thee let all other things be vile and of no account but troublesome unto me which is contrary to thy good will and pleasure let tears be my bread day and night let thy law be better unto me than millions of gold and silver and let it be delightful unto me to walk in the ways of thy Commandments unto the end IV. As there is no greater incentive of divine wrath than sin so there is not any greater obstructive of devout Prayer in removing that wrath than impenitence impenitence clogs yea clips the wing of devotion so that it cannot mount aloft it cannot reach the throne of grace and of this David himself gives us his profession from his experience saying Psal 66. 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me look how far our lives are from Gods precepts to obey them so far are Gods Ears from hearkning to our Prayers saith Tertul the person then must be excepted before the petition and so a sincere penitent is the best suppliant for that our Lord Jesus Christ being the Priest that offers and the Altar that sanctifies all our services there can be no acceptation without his mediation and sure I am he will not be our Advocate unless he be our Lord he will not be our Priest unless he be our King he will not present God our Prayers unless we present him our persons and whom faith and repentance consecrates through the Spirit him grace and mercy accepts through Christ V. In this Blessed Sacrament here we have an unmovable Centre to rest on God our portion Christ our fullness an object larger than the Heavens Oh that our Faith were now suitable to its object the firmness of our trust to the fulness of our God our Jesus had the Widow of Sarepta prepared more Vessels she had receiv'd more Oyl and that we receive less in the supplies of grace and bounties of love from God and Christ it is because we are straightned in our Faith not God or Christ straightned in his bounty we less capable to receive not he less willing or able to give the Widows vessels are all fill'd and here each humble Soul shall be replenished according to the measure of their capacity VI. Not according to the riches of Christs fulness who as the Sea can fill the vessels though never so large and therefore where the measure is but little there the vessels are but small Enlarge we then the thirsting desires of our Soul that the Fountain of Christs fullness here set open in this Ordinance may satisfie and fill them here behold the promises of life sealed here feel the riches of grace Communicated and here see the earnest of Salvation and Glory Confirmed O then let us hasten to these wells of Salvation for in them we shall find eternal life while we are here we shall find rest to our Bodies and Souls but in the life to come joy everlasting A Prayer for Wednesday Evening preparatory to the Holy Sacrament I. To thee O thou blessed Centre of my Soul mine inward and mine outward Consolation my blessed quietness and richest rest with all humility of Soul and prostration of Spirit do I apply my self for mercy and forgiveness Lord pardon in the Blood of Christ all my offences and for the time to come withdraw my heart from worldly vanities and fix it wholly upon thee and thy Kingdom that so I may sincerely love thee joyfully delight in thee and be both now and ever happy with thee II. O God most Holy O Lord most Righteous O Father most Merciful who in thy tender bowels of compassion towards me hast freely given me thine only Son to perform that in mercy for me which thou in justice