and godliness who am so deeply indebted to him who have lived so long in his family and been often likewise entertained at his Table and received there the renewed tokens of his dearest love O how unwearied is his goodness which calls me once more to pertake of that great favour Canst thou find in thy heart O my soul to admire any thing to love any thing like unto him Let us go with the forwardest affection to testifie how much we value his kindness to profess the sincerity of our faith in him and most dutiful love unto him Let us go and confirm the agreement that is between us and make a new choice of him for our only Master and Saviour and take upon us to be eternally his Servants Nay render him our most hearty thanks that he will admit us to that honour and with the most passionate admiration make him our acknowledgments that he would do so much to deserve our Service Is not this thy mind and intention in approaching to his Table Doth it not grieve thee that thou hast at any time offended so great love Hadst thou not rather die and be crucified as he was than willingly break the least of his Commands Dost thou not in heart and resolution forsake every thing that would hinder thee from doing his will Art thou not purposed to follow Jesus in all the actions of an holy humble and mortified life Let us go then and wait upon him and shew him the love that we bear unto him Let us give him thanks even for this good mind which he hath put into us and for all the hopes we have that he will continue it to eternal life Be not discouraged for when the wicked forsakes his way Isa 55.7 and the unrighteous man his thoughts he himself hath said that he will have mercy upon him and multiply to pardon He will pour more abundantly of his holy spirit on us to strengthen our resolutions He will make us grow in grace and bring forth all the fruits of righteousness He will abundantly satisfie us with the fatness of his house Psal 36.8 9 10. and make us to drink of the River of his pleasures For with him is the fountain of life in his light shall we see light He will continue his loving kindness unto them that know him and his righteousness to the upright in heart The Prayer O Most holy and ever blessed God the fountain of good the highest object of our love the rest and satisfaction of all rational desires infinitely greater than all we can see and all we can conceive I bow my self before thee and humbly worship thy incomprehensible Majesty It was thy goodness which brought me into being and thy patience which hath continued me in it unto this time and a greater mercy which hath not suffered my being to be miserable to me but heaped on me innumerable good things But I have no fit name for that superabundant love which thought of making mankind so very happy by thy Son Jesus It is a wonder O Lord that thou wouldest be at such expense about those who had chosen to be any thing rather than such as thou madest them None but infinite compassion could be so tender of those who despised thy Image and loved to live like the beasts that perish None but thou O merciful God could think of bestowing greater benefits on such brutish sinners And nothing but a stupid negligence and unaccountable inconsiderateness could ever refuse to be made pertakers of such endless happiness as thou designest to us I am one of those strange things that have forsaken thee and know not why Who was long insensible of thy grace and unmoveable under thy greatest importunities to return to thee And since thou hast prevailed with me am too much inclined to content my self with a small degree of likeness to thee and apt to find out little pretences and excuses for the doing of my own will rather than thine And that though I am so solemnly consecrated to thee and have been instructed in thy blessed Gospel and put in hopes of such glorious rewards and received such incouragements at thy Table where I have frequently promised chearful obedience in all things Blessed be thy inconceivable love O most gracious Lord who hast shed thy blood for those who sin against that love if with all their hearts and all their souls they return unto thee For ever magnified be thy mercy who hast given us so many assurances of the truth of thy love to us and so many opportunities to testifie the truth of ours towards thee Thou art pleased not only by thy word thy promise and oath to give us ground of hope but even by outward and sensible signs to incourage our weak and justly fearful faith For who can but tremble to think that he hath at any time offended the majesty of Heaven and earth and yet who can but hope that hears the voice of thy Son inviting us to come unto thee and promising a pardon to returning sinners O thou who callest me now again to thy holy Table and there hast made such rich provision for us assist I most humbly beseech thee all the Meditations desires and resolutions of my soul in that holy action That I may remember all that the Lord Jesus hath done and suffered for me with such an humble admiration a lively faith and a thankful love that I may feel my heart tied faster to him with the cords of his love and sent up to Heaven as the whole burnt offerings to the Lord. Draw me O God of love more powerfully to thee and fill me more with wisdom and goodness that my mind may more clearly discern between things that differ my will may become more easy to all that is good and more obstinate against all that is evil and that every affection and passion may be more gentle and submissive to the government of thy holy Laws Possess my heart against all the force of temptations by a never dying sense of thy goodness and a remembrance of those joys which thou hast prepared for those that love thee O that all my graces may receive increase of nourishment that I may more perfectly imitate the humility the meekness the patience the charity the resignation and absolute obedience of my Lord and Master Jesus Christ He hath bidden us believe that thou wilt give thy holy Spirit to those that ask it as readily as an earthly parent gives bread to his children O let the power of that attend upon me to fix my wandring thoughts to raise up my heavy and dull affections and to form all my holy purposes into a setled disposition and temper of heart to comply with thy blessed will in every thing I am not worthy I confess of the smallest crumb of thy mercy but thou hast made me to hope for these great blessings through thy grace declared unto us in Christ Jesus In whose words I further
Merciful Father the Fountain of all life and happiness who bountifully communicatest thy blessings and every where overflowest in thy mercies to all thy creatures More especially to the sons of men who are surrounded with an Ocean of them the bounds of which we cannot see and the depth whereof we cannot fathom And the more thirsty any Souls are and humbly desirous to receive them the more it pleases thee to pour out thy mercies upon them the more thou delightest in the issues of thy bounteous goodness to them I thine unworthy servant encompassed about with thy salvation come to make my humble acknowledgments and such returns of love and dutiful affection as I am able to thy Divine Majesty If I had the Spirits of all Creatures united in me I could not conceive or worthily express thy loving kindness Who hast raised me out of Nothing to an excellent degree of being indued me with reason and wisdom instructed me in the Christian faith and therein let me see such things as eye never saw 1 Cor. 2.9 ear never heard Psal 68.18 nor did it enter into the heart of man to conceive that the Lord God should dwell among us Ephes 1.20.21 and our Nature be exalted at his right hand far above all Angels Principalities and Powers and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come Blessed be the infinite wisdom and goodness of God which sent his Son Jesus born of a woman to die for us and to be a propitiation for our sins and by means of death hath crowned him with glory and honour that we might have a blessed hope of glory honour and immortality together with himself I ought to be overwhelmed with the thoughts of thy mercies which I cannot comprehend The great load of them The exceeding great load of them ought to press my heart continually to send them all back again in eternal love and obedience Accept good Lord I beseech thee of such poor expressions of them as I have now made unto thee and of my vows at thy holy Table to render unto thee better There thou hast been pleased to give me a sweet remembrance of thy past loving kindness and assurance of the future Bestow upon me likewise such a wise and considering heart that I may sink my thoughts deeper and deeper into the vast Sea of thy mercies and think my self happy when I am filled with such a great sense of them that all my thoughts desires and actions are under the power of Heavenly love O that the love of God my Saviour may be ever admirable in mine eyes that I may delight to think of thy love to speak of thy love and to imitate thy love so that all inordinate affections may die in me and I may perform most ready and easie obedience to all thy commands Thou hast laid also great ingagements upon me in that whilest thou makest this extraordinary provision for my Soul thou hast not neglected my Body but taken care that a world of good things should serve my needs and pleasure continually O that my heart were but duly sensible of all thy goodness I know then that I could not deny thee any thing thou desirest who hast opened thy hand so liberally to me even beyond my desires I could not but trust thee and resign my will wholly to thee and be contented with what thou orderest for me and in every thing give thanks which is thy will in Christ Jesus concerning me All that I have and can do is too little to give thee I can love thee but a little and therefore I desire that all the world would love thee and worship thee and glorifie thy name For thou art great and dost wondrous things Psal 86.10 thou art God alone O that all the Kings of the Earth would praise thee O Lord. Yea 138.4 5. that they would sing in the ways of the Lord for great is the glory of the Lord. That they may think it their greatest honour to be the Subjects of our Saviour and their greatest security to obey him and observe his Laws That being intrusted with thy divine power they may imploy it to right those that suffer wrong to ease the oppressed of their burdens supply the wants of the poor defend the fatherless and widow and comfort all mankind in their miseries I recommend this Church and Kingdom our Sovereign and all his Subjects to thy most powerful Protection beseeching thee to endue us all with thy Heavenly grace to dispose us to love thy true Religion and to be zealous of good works that our Lord and Master may be honoured by us and all men may know we are his Disciples by our loving one another Now to the most High God Dan. 4.34 35. who liveth for ever whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom from generation to generation before whom all the inhabitants of the Earth are reputed as Nothing and he doth according to his will in the Army of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the Earth be blessing and honour and praise rendred by me and by all Creatures now and eternally Amen August The Meditation before DOTH it not seem long my soul since thou wast at the Table of the Lord With what thoughts with what affections then dost thou receive this new invitation to it See what joy what delight it raises in thy heart that thou mayst know whether indeed thou lovest him or no. His love is so great that one would think it should never slip out of thy mind Our Lord hath done such great things for us that we may be tempted sooner not to believe them than to forget them But this is one piece of the greatness of that love that it hath taken care it should be alway remembered He hath not thought it enough to die for us but he hath left us a representation of it and a command to shew forth his death until he come What dost thou think of that command Is it a burden to thee to yield obedience to it Dost thou unwillingly hear the motion to go and do this in remembrance of him What Is it a sad thing to think of declaring the goodness of the Lord To magnifie the love of God our Saviour To celebrate his praises To profess our selves his servants and to ingage to him our fidelity Doth it make thee sigh to think of going to receive the tokens of his love To represent the death and satisfaction of Christ Jesus for thy sins To wait on God for the pardon of them And to be put in assured hope of immortal life Thou art not such a stranger sure to thy own happiness but knowest better things even things that accompany salvation Give glory therefore to the Lord that he calls thee again so graciously to shew forth his death Let him know that thou meanest to obey him to attend him at his holy Table and thank
returning thither again Thou hast richly loaden me with thy benefits endued me with principles of wisdom righteousness and goodness made a world of good things to wait upon me and minister to me and expectest only reasonable service and an easy obedience from me which thou hast sent thy Son to demand and to entreat and to give me an example of This is the surpassing heighth of thy love that thou wast pleased not to despise and reject us when we had despised all thy former favours but even to assume our Nature into an inconceivable nearness to thy own and send thy Son Jesus to seek and save us when we were lost I adore thine infinite condiscention O blessed Jesus Heb. 2.11 14. who art not ashamed to call us Brethren And for as much as we are partakers of flesh and blood hast also thy self likewise taken part of the same that through death thou mightest destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil Blessed be thy goodness that in all things thou wast made like unto us that thou mightest be a merciful and faithful high-Priest v. 17. to make reconciliation for our sins Let all the Angels in heaven still praise him for as high as the heaven is above the earth so great is his mercy above our thoughts We were not worthy that thou shouldst so much as look upon us or speak unto us and then in thine unbounded love thou wast pleased to dwell in our nature and to send thy Son in the likeness of sinful flesh Rom. 8.3 that by a Sacrifice for sin he might condemn sin in the flesh I see O Lord in that Sacrifice how hateful sin was to thee when thou wast so full of love to us and am going to thy Table to renounce utterly every evil way and devote my self to an holy and god-like life to acknowledg thy wise goodness who wouldst dwell in our flesh to sanctifie and cleanse it and give thy Son Jesus to die for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Accompany me O God by that mighty spirit through which he was conceived and offered himself without spot unto thee that I may have a lively conception of him and his holy Gospel in my mind and be made conformable to him in every thing and offered up intirely soul and body to be ordered and disposed of as pleaseth him It is but just and reasonable that his will not mine should be done And it is no less my happiness than my duty to be governed by him who is the wisdom of thee our God I deliver up therefore my understanding my will my affections and passions to be guided directed and ruled by his supream and immutable counsels Work in me a stedfast admiration and love of his purity lowliness meekness patience contentedness and charity that nothing may be so desirable to me as to have Christ Jesus in all his divine virtues formed in me Hold O Lord this image of him alway before mine eyes that my life may be nothing else but a constant imitation of him and both body and soul become the Temple of the holy Ghost wherein thou mayst be truly honoured heartily loved highly praised and exalted and purely worshipped and served O that my mind may be ever employed in pious or honest thoughts that my will may chuse the better part which can never be taken away from me that I may set my affections on heavenly things and not on things upon the earth that I may use the world as one that seeks a better countrey being chearful and yet composed diligent in my calling and yet working out my salvation doing good to my self with all the comforts of this life and likewise unto others Give me the grace good Lord never to be weary of well-doing to be just in all my dealings faithful in my promises mindful of my vows upright in the discharge of my trust inoffensive in word and deed and an useful and peaceable Member of Church and state Dispose me to be good in all my relations obedient to those who are over me kind to all my equals compassionate and pittiful to those that are in misery meek and lowly towards all men O that riches may never make me forget my self nor poverty tempt me to forget thee that health may not make me confident and secure nor sickness make me dejected and discontented But I may be patient and constant in all adversities Religious and thankful in prosperity and go through fulness and emptiness honour and disgrace good report and bad with the same evenness of mind till I come to receive praise and commendation as a good servant of Jesus Christ at the great day of his appearing In whose most powerful Name I continue to make my suits unto thee saying as he hath taught me Our Father c. The Meditation afterward IS not our heavenly Father very desirous that we should love him Would he else have appeared among us Would he have manifested himself to us Yea manifested himself in our flesh And more than that purchased us to himself by his own blood O how dear hath he paid for our love Love him love him exceedingly that he may not lose the great price wherewith we are bought But what love do we bear him if we be not like him What are we the better that a Saviour is born to us if he be not formed in us and dwell not in our heart by faith Was not this the end of his taking our Nature that he might purifie it and make us reverence our selves more than to defile that which is so near of kin to the Son of God O most wise goodness which by becoming like to us designed to make us like thy self I see the humility of the blessed Jesus who was born of a poor Virgin I see his sweetness in accommodating himself to the vilest of us and taking on him the form of a servant I see how little he valued the riches and the dignities and the pleasures of this world How contented he was in a mean condition how obedient to his parents how courteous to the meanest clients who came to receive not to give I see how liberal he was of his favours how unwearied in doing good how patient in suffering any evil how he loved righteousness and hated iniquity how dear the honest heart was to him and how odious hypocrisie I see how meek he was when he was affronted how loth his enemies should perish how little concern'd either in the calumnies or applauses of the world How absolutely resigned to the will of God and how desirous to do him honour O how often did he thank his heavenly Father How many hours did he spend in prayer and private converse with him How joyfully did he suffer great pains to do great good And at last laid down his life full of hope in God to see a glorious
of them I hope to give thee eternal praises O Father of mercies and God of all comfort who hast made us after thy own image and in the fulness of time sent thy Son born of a woman made under the Law to redeem us from the curse and hast adopted us to be thy children promised to make us heirs with thy only begotten and for that end to give us a new birth from the Grave into an immortal Life Have patience with me O Lord till that time when I shall more fully comprehend and better acknowledge the greatness of thy love for which I will endeavour to prepare my self by an innocent harmless and unblamable life as becomes the Gospel of Christ To him I have now dedicated my self again in all holy obedience I have professed my self his servant that admires him and loves him and glories in being his faithful Disciple O that the good thoughts and pious inclinations which I have now felt in my heart may remain and abide there for ever that as I grow in years so I may grow as my Saviour did in grace and favour with thee my God and with all good men Endue me with a more solid knowledge of thy will with a stronger love and affection to it and with power to do my duty towards thee and towards all men That I may behave my self in an humble and godly fear before thee in all justice mercy and charity to my Neighbours and possess my Body and Soul in sobriety chastity and patience Make me loving to my inferiours respectful to my betters friendly to my equals kind to all mine enemies thankful for thy mercies contented with my own state and condition of life fearful of my self in prosperity and confident in thee in adversity that all temptations may only present me with something to overcome and give me new occasions of victory over the world and produce for me at last a greater crown of glory For thou art my hope O Lord God thou art my trust from my youth Psal 7â— 5 6 8 9. By thee have I been holden up from the womb thou art he that took me out of my mothers bowels my praise shall be continually of thee Cast me not off in the time of old age 73.24 forsake me not when my strength faileth But let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy hâ—nour all the day Guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory through Christ Jesus to whom with thy self in the unity of the Holy Ghost be all honour thanksgiving love and obedience rendred by me and all Angels and Men both now and eternally Amen Easter-day The Meditation before O Blessed day which brought glad tidings of great joy Our Saviours second birth-day to a more glorious life The day of the first fruits of those that slept The day that brought life and immortality to light and gave us assured hope in God that it shall be to us according to Jesus his Word Why do we dream thus my Soul about these things Awake awake and stir up in thy self the most piercing belief and sense of them Thy Saviour is risen and calls unto thee with a mighty voice saying Rev. 1 1â— I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keys of Hell and of Death Need there any more words to perswade thee to go and rejoyce in his love which made him give himself to die for thee And in the love of God which accepted of his oblation and rewarded his sufferings with a glorious Resurrection to an endless Life And in that power might and majesty wherewith he is crown'd So that at the Name of Jesus all things in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth do bow and obey It is too little to say that I will go and thank him at this holy Feast for what he hath done for me and for what I hope he will still do I will go and offer my self absolutely to him I will make a vow of love to him and charity to all the world I will triumph in his praise and glory in the service of the Prince of life I will dedicate my self to be an everlasting monument both of his Death and of his Resurrection from the dead I will so remember his death as to die my self to sin And so remember his Resurrection as to rise again to walk before him in newness of life And his dying no more so that sin shall have no more dominion over me Rom. 6.12 14. nor reign in my mortal body that I should obey it in the lusts thereof His Humility shall be remembred so as to kill my Pride and his Charity so as to kill my Covetousness I will remember his pains so as to mortifie all inordinate desires of pleasure and his patience so as to subdue my anger passion and peevishness His love to his Enemies shall make me forgive others and do good to those who do evil to me And his absolute obedience make me take up my Cross and be obedient to the very death Dost thou not begin already to feel the remembrance of his free giving himself for thee animate thee to a chearfulness and forwardness in well doing Doth not his full trust in God when he laid down his life that he should receive it again raise in thee a strong confidence in his Almighty word Is not the power he hath over Hell and Death of mighty force to encourage thy hopes and make thee victorious over all thy enemies How doth thy heart beat within thy breast What thoughts and passions doth it travel withal Doth it not begin to send up admiring thoughts towards Heaven where Jesus is Doth it not burn with strong desires Is it not ready to burst forth into the highest expressions of love and joy Art thou not enraged against all those sins which murdered the Lord of life Are they not all condemned to be crucified and slain Dost thou not resolve to live like one that believes in Jesus and professes himself to be his faithful follower Then think when thou goest to celebrate the memory of his Death that Jesus stands in the midst of you as he did among his Disciples when he was newly risen from the Grave saying Peace be unto you Joh. 20.19 Eat O my Friends rejoyce and be exceeding glad As my Father hath loved me so I have loved you Joh. 15.9 continue ye in my love Behold here the sensible Signs and Seals of my love By these I give my self to you as once I gave my self for you By these tokens I convey to you all that I have I make over to you that inheritance which I have purchased by my Bloud and that is eternal life in the Heavenly places For I am alive again and behold I live for evermore Amen Lord Jesus 14.19 live live for ever Because thâ—â— livest I shall live also Thou knowest how to
Breaking giving and receiving of that Bread was to commemorate and more strongly imprint on their minds the whole History of our Lord Jesus Which we are not to reflect upon in an idle and ineffectual manner but with such passions as we feel when we think of the sweet conversation the good offices and the solemn departure of the dearest Friend that we ever had Whom no good natur'd man can seriously call to mind without Love Delight Gratitude and a great forwardness to fulfil his Will and Testament and to follow his admired example Now that we may be made able to do so in respect to our Lord Christ he is pleased to set before us this Holy Food which the Christian Church hath always lookt upon as a Spiritual nourishment to strengthen and encrease in us all goodness And for that purpose we are to address our selves to the Table of our Lord that by affectionate meditation on his condiscending kindness in becoming a Man for our sakes and by laying to heart the whole story of his wonderful Love from his Birth to his Grave and fixing our eyes on the glorious hopes he hath given us by rising again from the dead and ascending to the Throne of God we may feel a greater strength derived to us from him enabling us to our several duties and be enlivened to a greater freedom and chearfulness in denying all our own appetites and desires and submitting them to the Will of Christ Say therefore to your selves before you come thither some such words as these We are invited to a Feast our most Gracious Lord is the Master of it yea He himself is the cheer that is provided for us With what Humility with what thankfulness ought we to accept of his invitation Let us fit up our selves and make our souls ready to appear before him in as holy and becoming a manner as we are able Let us go with such joy as if we were called to the richest entertainment in the world Let our Meditation of him be sweet and let us be glad in the Lord * Psal 104.4 Isa 63.7 Psa 45.17 Let us mention the loving kindness of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us And let us make his name to be remembred in all generations Let us resolve to feed on him in our hearts by Faith with Thanksgiving as his Minister exhorts us to ruminate so long upon his love till we feel our hearts burn with love to him Let us meditate on his holy life his bitter passion his bloody and shameful death his glorious Resurrection and Ascention his Power and Authority at Gods right hand the great benefits we justly expect from thence and the pretious promises he hath by these means sealed to us till we feel all the powers of our souls quickned and stirred up with a mighty heat and zeal to do the will of our ever blessed Redeemer even a new life and spirit coming into us and making us Strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Which vertue we shall certainly find flowing into us and spreading it self through our hearts if we believe and enter into a serious consideration of the more particular intention and design of this holy Feast whose general meaning I have briefly described Having surveyed therefore in your thoughts the whole Gospel of our Saviour Christ I shall proceed to shew you on what you are more principally to fasten them You must not consider this holy Action only as a Feast in remembrance of him but as a Feast upon a Sacrifice wherein you are more particularly to commemorate his Death Our blessed Lord the High-Priest of our profession was pleased himself to be offered upon the cross where he gave himself for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Ephes 5.2 A kindness that as it ought never to be forgotten so it ought to be mentioned with the highest and devoutest praises And therefore after the manner of those Feasts among the Jews and Gentiles too in which the people had some portion of the Sacrifice to entertain themselves and their friends withal he makes us pertakers of the Sacrifice which he made to God by admitting us in these representations of his body and blood to feast upon it Which Action is a grateful commemoration of his death to his everlasting praise and glory Therein we set forth that Sacrifice of his for us and signifie the thankful sense we have of his love and our high esteem of those benefits which his bloody Death hath purchased to us This we learn first from those words of our Lord and his Apostle S. Paul which teach us to do this in remembrance of him Which phrase doth not signifie our calling him to mind but our making mention of his dying love with due praises and acknowledgments which is best expressed by the word Commemorate We declare by doing this that we indeed bear that remarkable testimony of his kindness in the remembrance of a thankful heart and will endeavour to make it be remembred in the succeeding generation That this is the meaning appears more fully from a second expression of S. Paul's 1 Cor. 11.26 where he saith as often as they did this they shewed forth the Lords death till he came We declare and publish by this Action his bloody Death We proclaim and abundantly utter the memory of his great goodness which he would have made known to all by this solemn Feast till his second appearing This is the import of that word shew forth only it carries this further notion in it as appears by the use of it in the Psalms * Ps 106. â— Ps 145.4 5 6 7. That we hereby publish his mighty Acts with praise extol and magnifie his marvellous love and celebrate the Memory of those divine benefits he hath obtained for us with a desire that they may be acknowledged in the same manner to the Worlds end And here now we may consider that this Commemoration and shewing forth looks two ways towards men and towards God First We shew it forth and tell it to the world We openly declare to all those that see or know what we do that the Son of God dyed for the Children of men that he freely gave his body to be broken and his blood to be shed for our redemption We proclaim Jesus to be the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World and shew how God hath commended his love to us in that while we were sinners he gave his only begotten Son for us that we might live through him In this riches of his grace we make our boast and glory a great deal more than if we possessed the Treasures of the whole Earth Secondly And then we Commemorate also and shew forth his Death unto God the Father We set before him this free-will Offering of Jesus as a sufficient Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world We magnifie his
frequently say as much concerning the sanctifying of the Water in Baptism by the holy Spirit and yet it remains Water still though it serve to the mystical washing away of sin So do the bread and wine remain bread and wine after the sanctifying of them and their becoming the body and blood of Christ to us They are both bread and wine in their substance and the body and blood of Christ the Spiritual use to which they are appointed To that use when once they are consecrated we have no regard at all to the substance of bread and wine but only to the body and blood of Christ which by doing this are communicated to our souls in the remission of sin the sanctification of the Spirit and eternal life To conclude what Gregory Nyssen saith concerning Baptism * Tom. 2. in Bapt. Christi p. 802. Do not contemn the divine washing nor undervalue it as a common thing because of the Vse of the Water for that which it works is great and there are wonderful effects of it we may say concerning the Supper of the Lord Bread and Wine are but small things but in this holy use of them they are great and produce admirable effects Nay he himself immediately mentions this very thing among others for an example of the great benefit that may be received from common matters when they are applied to a divine use This Altar saith he at which we stand is in its Nature but ordinary stone nothing different from those you tread upon but being dedicated to God â—ervice it is an holy Table c. And this bread also is in the beginning but common bread but when the mystery hath offered it then it is called and it is the body of Christ So the mystical oyl and so the Wine which are little worth before the blessing after the sanctification of the Spirit have another kind of operation And thus a Priest who the other day was a vulgar person being separated by blessing becomes a guide a Governour a teacher of piety c. And these things he doth without any change at all in his body or form By these examples any man may see that he thought the bread and wine in the Sacrament become the body and blood of Christ with no more change in their substance than there is in the water with which we baptize or in the Priest who ministers there or at the Eucharist But that they are called the body and blood of Christ in regard of the Use to which they are sanctified and are his body and blood in regard of the wonderful effects which are communicated to the faithful in the use of them viz. remission of sin and all other benefits of his passion Now what greater favour can we desire at Gods hands than to be admitted to such fellowship with him and with his son Jesus Christ what is there of equal power with this to possess our hearts with the love of God was there ever any so treated by him as we are did the friends of God in ancient time receive such pledges of his grace and favour were they ever made thus one with him and joyned to him by pertaking of his Sons body and blood who would not give up himself soul and body eternally to him that thinks of these things who can think he makes a dear purchase if he give his life in exchange for such invaluable blessings we should go to the Table of the Lord and say How excellent is thy loving kindness O God! How pretious are thy thoughts towards us how great is the sum of them who would not fear thee who would not love thee and glorifie thy name For thou hast given us exceeding great and pretious promises 2 Pet. 1.4 that by them we might be pertakers of a divine Nature Thou hast sealed them with the blood of thy Son and hast made a new Covenant with us in that blood Heb. 10.16 17. to put thy laws in our hearts and write them in our minds and our sins and iniquities to remember no more Thou hast made him an high Priest for ever to make intercession for us and given him power and glory at thy right hand 1 Thess 5.24 that he may be able to perform all his promises Faithful is he that calleth us who also will do it For ever O Lord thy word is setled in Heaven Psal 119.89 90. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations But thou hast given likewise farther assurances of thy merâ—y and thy Truth by entertaining us at thy Table and making us pertake of that body and blood which was offered for our sins Enough Enough O most merciful Father We see the love thou bearest to us We cannot desire greater tokens and testimonies of it than these thou hast given us 2 Cor. 1.20 All thy promises in Christ we believe are Amen certain faithful and true We know and are sure 1 John 2.1 2. that we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is a propitiation for our sins I will never doubt any more of thy good will towards us for I taste and feel that the Lord is gracious Psal 111.4 5 9. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion he will ever be mindful of his Covenant He hath sent redemption unto his people he hath commanded his covenant for ever Holy and reverend is his Name Psal 103.17 18. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him To such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandments to do them I wait therefore for thee O Lord Ps 130.5 my soul doth wait and in thy word do I hope Mine eyes shall be ever towards the Lord Jude 2. that Mercy and peace and love may be multiplied unto me that I may walk in the light as thou Lord art in the light for so shall we still have fellowship one with another 1 Joh. 1.7 and the blood of Jesus Christ thy son shall cleanse me from all sin Amen The natural consequence of what hath been said concerning the love of God towards us in sending his only begotten Son that we might live through him and he might be the propitiation for our sins is drawn to our hand by S. John 1 Epist 4.11 Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another This is so certain a fruit of an hearty sense of Gods merciful kindness to us that no man ought to think he loves him or hath any fellowship with him or with his son Jesus who doth not feel in himself an unfeigned affection and readiness to do good to all his Christian Brethren By this we know that we dwell in him and he in us which we pray for at the Lords Table because he hath given us of his spirit v. 13. That is indued us with his own kind and gracious Nature and disposition Of which that
clearly discern that I may touch on this by the way that he did not believe the Wine in this Sacrament was turned in substance into the blood of Christ but only in representation and use For it begun to be his blood when it was offered to God just as the water begun to be the people and flock of Christ He uses the same words of both And therefore if we say he thought the wine was changed from its own nature into the very substance of Christs blood we may as well say he believed the water to be changed from being water and to be made the very substance of his Church or people In the like manner we may discourse concerning the bread which in his opinion is so made Christs body that it is also the body of the Church For that is represented he saith together with Christ by the flour and water made into one Bread But not to trouble our selves any further with disputes let us therefore when we pertake of the Table of the Lord think that as thereby we are made one with Christ so we are joyned in the closest Union one with another And let us remember when we are making our selves ready for this heavenly Feast that as we are going to commemorate the dearest love of our Lord and to profess our love to him so to engage our selves to the heartiest love towards all the members of the same body to enter into a Covenant one with another as well as with him by eating of the same bread and drinking of the same Cup that we will never fall out any more much less hate maligne or do despite and injuries one to another but live for ever in the peace of God in unity and godly love O that this holy use of this Sacrament were more seriously regarded and laid to heart It would make a marvellous change in the face of Christs Church if all that pertake of his Table did cordially embrace as loving friends and resolve to remain in an inseparable affection For Love or Brotherly charity is the fulfilling of the Law and would certainly secure all thoses duties which we owe to our Neighbour as S. Paul shews Rom. 13.8 9 10. If our hearts were filled with it we should not only be preserved from doing of him harm but it would make us do him good By giving and communicating to his necessities * Which is joyned with breakinâ— br◠〈…〉 us â—ship and by forgiving him and passing by his injuries trespasses and offences under which two heads are comprehended all the offices of brotherly charity We have our Saviours word for it that if this heavenly vertue were but planted in our breasts all other Christian vertues would presently shine in us and adorn our souls For he compares this loving and kind disposition free from all base selfishness and covetous desires which look only at their own particular profit to the eye in our head which when it is clear and pure the whole body is full of light Matth. 6.22 And therefore the oftner we come to the Lords Table with this end among other in our aim the better Christians we shall grow We shall preserve this light that is in us from growing dim and renewing our friendship at this feast to which the Lord invites both high and low rich and poor we shall neither despise nor envy nor bear ill will nor be hard hearted one to another any more Nay our light will so shine before men that they seeing our good works will glorify our Father which is in Heaven It is a maxim I observe among Politicians that a great person or Governor should Feast or entertain but seldom upon some special occasions because it is uncertain whether he shall procure by it favour or envy Some may think themselves neglected and others think themselves disparaged who are not able to give the same entertainment But our Lord upon the quite contrary reasons invites us frequently to his house and Table because he invites all and makes no difference upon account of mens outward estates and expects nothing at all again but that all his Guests would love one another with a sincere heart and unfeigned affection The great he would ingage not to scorn the meaner sort and the meaner sort not to envy the great He would oblige the rich to be merciful and liberal and the poor to be thankful and contented The weak in knowledge not to judg the strong and the strong not to despise the weak but all to live together as loving Brethren and members of the same body That so they may have the same care one for another And whether one member suffer all the members may suffer with it or one member rejoyce all the rest may rejoyce with it And whatsoever differences may arise he conjures them by all that is sacred and dear to them that they fall not out nor make any quarrels much less divide and separate themselves one from another or do any thing that may spoil the harmony and consent of their affections together with the comfort of their lives and the beauty of his Church O how good Psal 133.1 4. how pleasant it is should every one say when he is at this feast for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity Heaven and Earth are pleased with this happy agreement and sweet accord Here the Lord commandeth a blessing even life for evermore Never will I make any jars in this heavenly consort Nothing but love nothing but Love shall possess that heart in which thou O Lord of love art pleased to inhabit I willingly enter into these holy bonds of friendship and peace I ty my self here inseparably to all my Brethren I embrace them all in every place with an open and inlarged heart I will ever endeavour to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and will love not in word nor tongue but in deed and in truth And O that we could see that holy Spirit which gathered so many Nations and tongues and people of sundry sorts into one body of the Church descending once more to joyn together all Christian hearts Come holy Ghost and draw us all to unity concord and peace That as there is one Lord and one spirit and one Baptism Ephes 4.3.4 5. Act. 4.32 and one hope of our calling so the multitude of believers may be of one heart and of one soul O blessed Jesus who when thou ascendedst up on high gavest gifts to men yea to the rebellious also renew thy ancient bounty to thine Universal Church Visit our minds and inspire us with heavenly grace that we may be like minded Phil. 2.2 having the same love being of one accord and one mind That so at last there may be but one voice also that we may all speak the same thing 1 Cor. 1.20 and that there be no divisions among us but that we be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in
40.8 11. I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart Withhold not thy tender mercies from me O Lord let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me Vnite my heart to fear thy name Fill me with all thy fulness O God and above all things with fervent charity This I pray that my love may abound yet more and more in knowledg and in all judgment that I may approve things that are excellent Phil. 1.9 10 11. that I may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto thy glory and praise I am thine save me Multiply grace mercy and peace upon me unto eternal life For it is thou O God Psal 68. ult that givest strength and power unto thy people Blessed be God Immediately after the receiving of the Cup they may lift up their hearts and say Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 1.3 7 8. who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence O Lord how manifold are thy works Psal 104 24 c. in wisdom hast thou made them all The earth is full of thy riches and so is the great and wide sea wherein are creatures innumerable These wait all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season Thou openest thine hand and they are filled with Good But eye had not seen 1 Cor. 2 9 10. Eph. 3.5.11 nor ear heard neither did enter into the heart of man the things which thou hadst prepared for them that love thee and hast now revealed to thy holy Apostles and Prophets by the spirit according to thy eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord. Who for us men and for our Salvation came down from Heaven and was manifested in flesh to destroy the works of the devil 1 Joh. 3.8 and dyed for our sins Rom. 4.25 rose again for our justification ascended up on high to give gifts unto men Eph. 4.8 and is at the right hand of God to make intercession for us Heb. 7.25 1 P i. 3. ult Heb. 1. ult Angels authorities and powers being made subject unto him and sent forth to Minister for them who shall he heirs of Salvation Eph. 3.8 Col. 2.3 O the unsearchable riches of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg I submit my self unto thee O thou Prince of life and Lord of glory unto thee I will live henceforth and not unto my self and if for thee I must die the will of my Lord be done Ps 16. ult Thy favour is better than life in thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Luk. 17.5 Lord increase my faith strengthen my hope raise my love to a greater height and make patience to have its perfect work that I may not love my life unto the death But the trial of my faith Rev. 12.11 though it be tried by fire 1 Pet. 1.7 Col. 2.2 may be found unto praise and honour and glory at thy appearing And O that our hearts may be comforted being knit together in love Eph. 4. ult that we may be ever kind tender-hearted forgiving one another as thou O God for Christ's sake hast forgiven us That so with united minds and affections we may be still praising thee and saying Blessed be the Lord of Heaven and Earth who only doth wondrous things Psalm 72.18 19. And blessed be his glorious name for ever and let the whole earth be filled with his glory Amen and Amen Or thus O the breadth and length Eph. 3.18 19. and depth and heighth O the love of Christ Jesus our Lord which passes knowledge Phil 2.7 8. who made himself of no reputation but took upon him the form of a Servant and humbling himself became obedient unto death even the death of the cross for us miserable sinners Rev. 5.12 Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Re. 1.5 6. 1 Pet. 2.5 For he hath washed us from our sins in his blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God to offer up spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ Jesus Behold O Lord an heart that offers up it self unto thee in love unfeigned I absolutely resign my will to thy holy will and pleasure Not my will but thy will be done And praised be God who hath made a new covenant with us in the blood of Jesus Col. 1.20 who hath by him reconciled all things to himself both in heaven and in earth and hath now renewed unto us the assurance of his continued love Psal 75.1 Vnto thee O God do we give thanks unto thee do we give thanks for that thou art near unto us thy wondrous works declare Psal 20.3 4. The Lord remember all our offerings and accept our Sacrifices Grant us according to our hearts desire and fulfil all our petitions Col. 1.9 10 11. That we may be filled with the knowledg of his will in all wisdom and Spiritual understanding and may walk worthy of him unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in knowledg strengthned with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness giving thanks continually to the Father of mercies who hath made us meet to be pertakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light 1 Tim. 1.17 Psal 106. ult Now unto the King eternal immortal invisible the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever And let all the people say Amen But when you have eased your hearts a little in these expressions of faith love and grateful remembrance of our Saviours kindness you will still find room for more devout effusions of your soul in some holy passion or other while you are at this feast Either before or after you have been at the Table of the Lord while the rest of the company is communicating there will be time to entertain your selves with sundry pious thoughts and meditations which I shall briefly suggest unto you in the next part of this Treatise that now follows The intention of which I told you in the beginning should be to instruct you in a plain and easy method how to pertake of this holy food with the greater fruit and delight also PART III. Containing a familiar way of disposing our selves to Communicate with Profit and Pleasure HAVING shewn you what is the Nature and Use of this Feast you will expect perhaps that I should tell you who are the persons whom our Lord invites and calls unto
if it were a thousand times larger to correspond with such a love How happy should I think my self if I could think of nothing and delight in nothing but only thee O that a perfect image of thee in all divine vertues may be formed in me and be ever dearer to me than life it self that I may live no longer but thou O blessed Jesus mayest live in me And the life which I now live in the flesh Cal. 2. â—â— I may live by the faith of thee the son of God who lovedst me and gavest thy self for me And then Feeling the flames of his love in your heart it will be a fit time to offer up your self intirely in the greatest devotion to his Service Pray him to accept of a poor Sacrifice now at your hand Though it be worth nothing at all yet intreat him to receive it since it is the oblation of the heartiest affection to him Say to him O sweet Saviour 1 Joh. 4.16 I have known and believed the love that thou hast to us I see here the excessive greatness of thy dying love No heart is able to hide it self from the heat thereof One cannot come near it and not be made like the whole burnt-offerings to the Lord. Never was any thing bought so dearly as this sinful soul Never was so great a price paid for any creature as thou hast laid down for my sake If I was as big as the highest Angel I should be an oblation too little for thee The flames of those heavenly fires are not strong enough wherewith to offer to thee But that I may be just for it is no more I humbly lay my self here at thy Altar and present thee with all I have I Sacrifice soul and body without any reserve to thy holy will and pleasure though I must be beholden to thy great love and not my own to procure acceptance for me I know how vile and unworthy I am that thou shouldst have any respect to my oblation All that I can say is that I offer my self for this end that I may be made better and so have every day more and more to return unto thee For that purpose ingage your selves in a covenant to him that you will never rob him any more of that which you have so solemnly offered to him I look O Lord may you say upon my self as an holy and devoted thing I have consecrated my self to thy service and so I will ever remain Never will I be so sacrilegious as to employ my self to any other uses but only thine Thou hast been pleased to make me thy Temple and therefore I will not willingly suffer thy holy place to be defiled I am sealed to thy self and have thy mark upon me I will never consent my soul should be broken up by any temptation and stoln away from thee I promise thee my faithful obedience I bind my self by these presents in a firm and everlasting tye of duty to thee I am not my own but bought with a price 1 Cor. 6.20 Therefore will I glorifie God in my body and in my Spirit which are Gods I will love the Lord my God with all my mind and with all my heart and with all my soul and all my strength And my Neighbour as my self And then Humbly beg leave of him that you may believe in his Name for the remission of sin Continue to say to him since thou hast so graciously dyed for me since thou hast invited me hither to represent thy death and sufferings to me and assure me of thy love since thou hast bidden me to commemorate it at this holy Feast be not angry if I call thee my Lord and my God Suffer me to claim an interest in the Merits of thy pretious blood which was shed to be a propitiation for the sins of the whole world Look on me O thou that sittest at the right hand of God with the favour thou bearest to thy people Joyn thy powerful intercession with my humble suits to the Father of mercies that for thy sake I may be accepted with him I believe thou appearest in the presence of God for us and as we shew forth thy Sacrifice of thy self here on earth presentest it in the most high and holy place before the mercy seat Bless me O Lord from that throne of thy glory and raise up such a holy hope in thee as if I heard that voice founding from thence I am thy Salvation And here Beg of him his mighty grace to confirm you in your resolution that so you may alway maintain in your soul this hope of his pardoning love Since thou O Lord may you say to him art so forward to do us good to bestow thy blessings unasked to die for us when we desired it not to institute this feast which we never expected to send thy Ministers to call us to it let me take the boldness now to ask something of thee O do not deny me the continuance of thine almighty grace Take not thy holy Spirit from me but let it be my constant companion my guide my helper my comforter for ever Is it not the purchase of thy blood Is it not thy own promise hast thou not received it of the Father and art thou not possessed of it and of glory and power to bestow it on us Thou thy self hast told us that it shall be given to those that ask it and that because thou livest we shall live also O do not lose what thou hast done already for want of doing something more Psa 138.8 Perfect that which concerneth me and forsake not the work of thy own hands Hold me up and I shall be safe 119.117 133.58 and I will have respect to thy statutes continually Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquitie have dominion over me I intreat thy favour with my whole heart be merciful unto me according to thy word Now because there must alway be some mirth and joy at a feast conclude all in praises to our Lord and rejoyce in his holy Name As he said to his Disciples when he washed their feet Joh. 13.12 so think you hear him speaking to you now Know ye what I have done to you Are you sensible what grace it is that I have bestowed on you Do you know what I did for you upon the cross and what I have done unto you at my Table O dear Lord that a man could but understand and conceive what thou hast done for us It would melt and dissolve our hearts and make them burst out into the highest expressions of joy and gladness All that is within us would be roused up to bless thy holy Name We should be fill'd with triumph and exaltation of Spirit in thy love and the very furthermost parts of our soul would feel that it is a most blessed thing to be thy servants All the Musick and Songs and Melody that the feasts of sensual men are
and work They do with this as S. James saith many do with the Gospel who like a man that beholds his natural face in a glass and taking but a short glance of himself goes away and straightway forgets what manner of man he was Whereas if he would not only look into the perfect Law of liberty but continue to look therein being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work he would be blessed in his deed Jam. 1.23 c. It is the design therefore of this last part of my discourse to furnish you with some apt matter for your Meditation and with sutable Prayers whereby you may both quicken your selves in your private closets when you are preparing to go to the Table of the Lord and likewise preserve alive those godly affections and resolutions which are excited there after you are come home again That so by continuing to look upon what you have done and what your Saviour hath done unto you and beholding as in a clear Mirror the great love of God in Christ Jesus and your great obligations to him you may never forget him nor the duty you owe him but be blessed in a faithful observance of both And that no man may have the excuse which the wanton Israelites pretended who were cloyed with the same thing repeated over and over again I have taken the pains to compose variety of Meditations and Prayers some longer some shorter for every Month in the year and the principal Festivals in remembrance of our Saviour Which you may either make use of if your infirmity require it or else stick constantly to such as you like best and find most apt to move your hearts No mans thoughts are alwayes alike neither his that writes nor his that reads and therefore sometimes one may be most agreeable to you sometimes another but there will be no time I hope wherein you may not be able among them all to fit your self with a Meditation and a Prayer that may stir up and further your Devotion towards God And he that will be at so much pains with himself as to follow some such method as this will never be able to say hereafter as too many wretched souls have done that they have frequented this holy Sacrament but were never the better for it January Meditation before the Sacrament COnsider with your self some time before you intend to Communicate that you are invited to come not only into the presence but unto the Table of God to be one of the guests of the Lord of the whole world What a grace what an honour is this Shall any business any pleasure on earth put by the thoughts of it It is impossible if you remember what the great God is who calls you to him and that he sets the body of his Son before you upon your Table and that your Cup is filled with his Blood That the Angels think it not below them to waite on you and minister to you and the divine Spirit will be ready to breath upon you and fill you with such holy love that you shall send up your soul in joyful hymns of Praise and Thanks to God our Saviour With what admiration should you receive the news of this invitation With what reverence ought you to approach him With what forwardness of love with what gladness of heart should you go to meet our blessed Lord Was there ever any kindness should you think with your selves like unto that of his Did there ever such a furnace of Love if I may so represent it burn in any heart could he do more than die the bloody and shameful death of the Cross for to save sinners How is it possible that the remembrance of this tender love and compassion should ever die or that any heart should freeze over such a fire unless we be willfully careless I see that he will have our love he will not suffer any thing to rob him of the purchase of his blood For lest we should prove so ungrateful as to let him slip out of our mind he hath left himself still among us in sensible signs and representations By these he shews us his bloody death and passion he makes himself present to our faith and we may see that he is desirous to do more than die for us having contrived a way to live for ever in us and be firmly united to us What manner of love is this that Heaven hath manifested unto us who can refrain from tears of grief and sorrow to think of his own ingratitude and from tears of joy to think of the wonderful kindness of the Lord can you look on him who was pierced for our sins and not lament and mourn can you see his bleeding wounds and not be troubled no pious heart can be so hard And yet when you consider that by those stripes you are healed that he hath washed us from our sins in this blood that faithful souls may take sanctuary in his wounds and be secure and safe you cannot chuse but rejoyce in the Lord and be glad in his Salvation Call to your Soul then and bid it awaken in it self the liveliest thoughts of him and the devoutest affections to him Call to it to put it self in tune to string as I may so speak the instruments of joy and praise and to stir up all the graces of the holy Spirit That so you may go with a deep humility a godly sorrow a perfect hatred of all sin both of the flesh and of the spirit a strong resolution against them with a lowly faith and in the heights of love with enlarged desires and great longings to this holy Feast Ask your Soul what dost thou think of what dost thou love what dost thou long for with what intentions art thou going to the Lords Table are the Treasures of Christian wisdom and knowledg more in thine account than thousands of gold and silver Dost thou heartily believe the holy Gospel of Christ Jesus and love him and his Religion in sincerity Is all sin already bleeding to death in thee and hadst thou rather die than willingly offend thy Saviour that died for thee Art thou going to hang all remaining affection to them upon his Cross that there they may be perfectly crucified and never taken down till by continued Meditation on it they be quite dead Resolve then to go and tell him as much to declare and shew to him that this is the sense of thine heart Only ask thy self again what appetite dost thou feel in thee Art thou going as a thirsty man to his drink or a hungry man to his food or a Bride to the marriage of a chosen soul dearer than all the world beside or dost thou feel something like these things in thine heart what is it that thou hungrest and thirstest after Is it the tasts of the love of God Is it his Divine Grace and holy Spirit Dost thou long to be more like him and made pertaker of his
my heart O Lord continually towards thee that I may know I love thee by thinking often of thee and delighting to be with thee and studying in all things to conform my self to thy blessed nature and will That having thee always before mine eyes thy holiness and righteousness may move me to purifie my heart thoroughly from all worldly and fleshly lusts thy greatness may breed in me much reverence fear and humility and thy tender mercies incline me to pitifulness bowels of mercies and readiness to do all good Give me such apprehensions of thy truth and faithfulness that I may intirely trust thee and rely upon thy promises of thine unerring wisdom that I may resign my understanding to thee and be perfectly contented with whatsoever thou appointest Dispose my soul so that a serious sense of thine omniscience may on all occasions over-awe every thought of my mind and motion of my will into order and obedience and thy patient goodness suppress all angry affections in me and make me gentle long-suffering and forbearing others in love Represent thine infinite fulness O Lord continually unto me that it may ingage me in eternal thoughts of thee and make me rejoyce in the happiness of being one of thy children and an heir of thy glory There is nothing more my heart can desire but only that I may still receive more pledges of thy fatherly love and have grace to keep my soul so pure and undefiled that our Lord may delight to manifest himself to me and make his abode with me Reign in me O blessed Lord and in all the world Subdue all the enemies of thy Cross Advance it above all the crowns of the Kings of the earth that they may become thy obedient subjects O that those of them who call upon thy name may be nursing Fathers to thy Church and promote Christian piety by their high authority and great examples Illuminate all the Bishops and Pastors of thy flock that they may feed thy people with wisdom and understanding and lead them in the ways of righteousness Bless all my Friends pardon and change all my Enemies Comfort and relieve all sorts of miserable people And grant us seasonable weather that the earth may bring forth her increase Accept of my hearty thanks which I tender thee again for all thy mercies both to my soul and body which are more than thought can number Accept of the oblation of my whole self which I have devoutly consecrated unto thee desiring to render all praise thanksgiving love and hearty service to thee eternally Now the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus 1 Pet. 5.10 11. make us all perfect stablish strengthen settle us To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen April The Meditation before the Sacrament AMong the innumerable swarms of people that are upon the face of the earth how few are there that know the great love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord And among those few that know it alas how small a number are there that remember it and celebrate it constantly with those praises and thankful acknowledgments which it eternally deserves O what a grace is this which I am pertaker of Eph. 2.19 that I should be made a fellow-Citizen with the Saints and of the houshold of God! Coloss 1.27 That I should know what is the riches of the glory of this Mystery which is Christ among us the hope of glory I am infinitely indebted to the divine goodness which inclines my heart also to go and commemorate this love in the assembly of his Saints who all like a spiritual building fitly framed together Eph. 2.21 grow into an holy Temple in the Lord. There the Lords name is continually praised There he delights to dwell and hath chosen them for his habitation There is the voice of joy and gladness and there he showrs down the blessings of his goodness Psal 95.6 O come my soul let us worship and bow down Let us go and kneel before the Lord our Maker 66.8 Let us exalt the Lord our God 96.8 and make the voice of his praise to be heard Let us give him the honour due unto his name 100.5 and worship the Lord with holy worship For the Lord is gracious and his mercy is everlasting and his truth indureth from generation to generation Thy reverence thy faith thy love thy holy resolutions thy hunger and thirst are all I hope still alive wherewith we ought to approach into his presence Thou hast not forgot sure the meaning of this holy Feast the sweetness of which may well preserve a memory of the ends for which our Lord invites thee to it Let us go then with an humble confidence to admire and proclaim once more the infinite love of God our Saviour Let us openly declare that we are his friends and followers and bid defiance to all his enemies Yea let us bind our heart to his Altar with the cords of his love and make an oblation of all we have unto him It is but just and reasonable since we have received so much from him It is but right meet and our bounden duty to praise him continually to glorifie and serve him with body and soul which he hath redeemed Let us go and thank him therefore that he would come down from heaven to us that he will accept us for his servants and set any esteem upon our poor obedience and that he will still from heaven visit us and not leave us comfortless without his holy presence with us So may we rejoyce in his salvation and represent with gladsome hearts his sacrifice to God for our expâ—ation and fix our eyes upon that glory where he is inthroned hoping we shall one day sit down with him in the kingdom of the Father and keep a perpetual feast with him in heaven What should hinder us O my soul from going to begin to be so happy Search and try examine and prove thy self Hast thou not a mind to know and do the whole will of God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength Dost thou not chuse to be poor in spirit meek merciful pure in heart a peace-maker a patient sufferer for righteousness sake and art thou not desirous to make an increase of all these by going to his holy Table Be not discouraged then Psal 4.3 5 6. but know that the Lord hath chosen him that is godly for himself The Lord will hear when I call upon him Go and offer the Sacrifices of righteousness and put thy trust in the Lord. There be many that say who will shew us any good But let thy voice be Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me Open thou mine eyes Psal 119.18 that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Gospel Make me able to comprehend with all Saints Eph. 3.18 19. what is the breadth
and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledg This shall put gladness in my heart more than in the time when their corn and wine encreased For thine are riches and power and honour and pleasure and they whom thou lovest can want nothing that is good Psal 5.12 Thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield 22.26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied they shall praise the Lord that seek him your heart shall live for ever The Prayer O Lord who fillest all things and delightest to pour out thy blessings upon all thy works especially into humble spirits who empty themselves of all their own desires that they may be filled with thy holy truth Behold a poor soul that opens it self to thy bounteous goodness though with much shame and confusion of face when I remember how much of thy grace I have refused or in vain received Thou hast sent me I acknowledg unasked innumerable benefits and I have found thee in my very heart when I sought not after thee Often have I felt holy thoughts springing up in my mind and pious affections carrying my heart away from all these earthly vanities Many godly purposes hast thou wrought in me and made me to taste how happy a thing it is to love thee and be beloved of thee O God thou hast taught me from my youth Psa 71.17 and early instructed me in the knowledg of thy truth Thou hast prevented all my desires and secretly disposed my will to chuse the ways of vertue and piety Hitherto I have declared thy wondrous works and every day brings along with it new testimonies of thy most fatherly care and providence But all this only reproaches me for my shameful negligence ingratitude and unfruitfulness in the knowledg of the Lord Jesus and makes me despair of receiving any more of thy grace unless thou wilt magnifie the riches of it in thy patient and long-suffering charity towards me Thou hast required us to put on bowels of mercy kindness condescention Coloss 3. forbearing and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any And hast taught us such charity as is kind and suffereth long â— Cor. 13. and beareth all things And therefore I am incouraged to fly unto thee and to hope in thee who hast made thy self the pattern of tenderness and compassion to us in Christ Jesus There is something of thy self likewise still remaining in me I feel my heart inclining towards thee desiring to have a more lively knowledg of thee and to be made thoroughly good and perfectly like thee Which emboldens me the more to wait upon thee and to open my heart for new communications of thy holy spirit to me O thou who givest food to all flesh who satisfyest the cravings of every living thing deny not the desires of an immortal soul which hungers and thirsts to be filled with the fruit of the Spirit Ephes 5.9 in all goodness and righteousness and truth It is not thy pardon only which I crave and humbly hope for through thy mercy in Christ Jesus But a power from above continually to assist the holy resolutions thou hast wrought in me to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.12 I have chosen O Lord the way of truth thy judgments have I laid before me Psal 119.30.10 â—â— 38 Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee I have gone astray but now I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways I will delight my self in thy statutes Psal 17.5 I will not forget thy word With my whole heart do I seek thee O let me not wander from thy Commandments But stablish thy word unto thy servant who is devoted to thy fear Hold up my goings in thy paths that my foosteps slip not And give me leave good Lord to approach to thy Table and there to dedicate my self again unto thee and receive fresh tokens of thy grace and favour towards me I am not worthy I confess to be seen in thy sacred presence But since thou hast wrought in me a will to please thee in all things I desire that I may humbly appear and profess it before thee and wait upon thee for a power to do according to the purposes of my heart O thou who searchest the hearts and knowest what is in man deal with me according to the sincerity of my soul And open mine eyes that I may see it if there be any evil way in me any pride any covetousness any impurity any hatred or uncharitableness For I renounce them all and unseignedly resolve to do justly and to love mercy Mic. 6.8 and to walk humbly with my God Ps 19.14 Let these words of my mouth and meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer And when I come to thy holy Table may I feel that thou hast accepted them by inspiring me with stronger purposes to continue in thy obedience and lifting me up to an higher degree of love to thee and my blessed Saviour Raise me O Lord so high that I may be out of the reach of the temptations of the world and the Devil or at least they may never be able to draw me down to follow any sinful lusts and desires Dan 9.19 O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do according to thy infinite mercies declared in Christ Jesus and the most comprehensive meaning of his own holy words in which he hath taught us to pray saying Our Father c. A Meditation afterward THE next time thou visitest thy soul ask it if it observed well that glorious person who feasted thee at his Table and marked the kind and gracious words which he spake unto thee by the representation of his broken body and blood that was shed for thy sake Alas wilt thou say I should not have been here if I had had a clear view of his glories He would have carried me to heaven with him if my heart had been possessed with the fulness of his love My eyes are too weak to behold his perfections my thoughts too narrow to comprehend the unsearchable riches of his grace But hast thou not seen something of him Did not many of his beauteous graces shine fairly in thine eyes Did he not even force upon thee some sense of his wondrous goodness and charity And hath he not put himself by sensible tokens into thy very hands nay entred into thine heart and told thee that he hath desired it for his habitation Where is he then what hast thou done with him are the thoughts of him vanished already out of thy mind Doth the love of him languish and die thus soon in thy breast Art thou content to let him go and see him
him too But with what blushing should we look there upon that love which we have sometime slighted With what hatred upon those sins which murdered the Lord of life With what joy should we think of the hope there is that they may be pardoned And how should we stand admiring at that wise goodness which made that blood which sinners shed to be the expiation for their sins Sure we do not believe these things or else we shall begin already to feel our heart burn with love to him and ready to offer it self in Sacrifice before we come to his Altar Excite thy Faith that it may stir up thy Love and that may carry all the passions of thy heart along with it to him Shew him that the desire of thy heart is to the remembrance of his Name that thy care is to please him thy fear to offend him thy joy to do his will and thy sorrow that thou canst do no more for him Let it be a great comfort to thee that he knows thy sincerity and sees into the very secrets of thy heart how affectionately thou studiest to be like him what a pleasure it is when thou canst stedfastly think of him how it grieves thee when thy thoughts are broken thy affections heavy and dull and thy power falls so short of thy will and desires And be assured that he pitties thee that notwithstanding this he will kindly entertain thee and receive the poorest oblation thou art able to make him at his Table Eat and be satisfied and bless the name of the Lord. He hath invited thee he expects thee he loves to see thee there and will make thee know that he loves thee and delights to do thee good Let us go my soul and declare before Angels and men that we are Christians and mean to live and die in his holy Religion And let us now take shame to our selves that we have at any time contradicted our belief Let us acknowledg the breach of that Faith into which we were baptized and declare before we go how great a trouble it is to us that we love him no more and how desirous we are and fully resolved to love him better and better The Prayer before O Eternal God the Lord of life of grace peace and all our comforts It is of thy great mercies alone that I am not consumed or that I lie not now groaning on a bed of sickness but am invited to feast at thy holy Table I might have distasted and loathed even the ordinary food of my body and thou continuest an opportunity and some appetite to receive the pretious food of my soul The grave might have been my dwelling the worms my companions and I been turned into rottenness and corruption but now I am going to thy house to be the companion of thy people and to communicate with thee and my blessed Saviour that I may be nourished to a blessed immortality This is nothing else but thy marvellous Mercy and because thy compassions fail not For I have too many ways violated thy holy Laws broken thy covenant resisted thy grace and unvalued thy eternal life Thou hast adopted me early for thy child sown the immortal seed of thy word in my heart sent thy holy Spirit to further its growth and increase to that never dying happiness and bliss But how little have I recovered of thy image in wisdom righteousness and holiness which hath been miserably defaced How coldly have I sometimes entertained the motions of thy holy Spirit And been barren and unfruitful in the knowledg of Jesus Christ How often have I heard of that great and dreadful day of reckoning and been prone to follow the little pleasures of this life as if I lookt neither for joy nor misery in the other world That Faith which should save me might justly condemn me and Jesus my most compassionate Redeemer without infinite mercy become only a severe Judge towards me Adored be thy patience and long-suffering to sinners For ever magnified be that Grace which gives me the least hope in thee and presents me with another opportunity of humbling my self before thee of intreating thy favour of deprecating thy displeasure and vowing my self again to thy service which I have covenanted to pay thee O merciful God have mercy upon me have mercy upon me according to the multitude of thy mercies in Christ Jesus blot out all my iniquities I have not offended thee beyond the heighth and depth and length and breadth of thine incomprehensible love in him declared to us And there is still remaining in my heart some esteem of that love and an inclination to love thee above all things with an hearty desire to be purified and sanctified throughout both in body and in soul and spirit Though not by works of righteousness which I have done yet by thy mercy I hope to be saved through the washing of regeneration and more perfect renewing of the holy-Ghost That renewing vertue from above I most humbly wait for and earnestly desire to be more abundantly poured on me Deal with me according to my unfeigned resolutions to study to purifie my self even as thou art pure to walk before thee hereafter in all sobriety righteousness humility meekness peaceableness charity indeavouring to perfect holiness in thy fear Vouchsafe me some earnests of this grace when I present my self before thee to commemorate the death of thy Son Jesus who was wounded for our iniquities and bruised for our transgressions That my heart may be deeply wounded with a sense of sin and hate the very thought of every evil way and chuse to endure any misery rather than offend thy dearest love again O that I might then feel my thoughts carried away from this world that I could think then of nothing but thee and the dying love of my sweetest Saviour and the greatness of that love which I owe to him that died for me Replenish my soul with holy thoughts lift me up in heavenly meditations and fill me with a multitude of devout affections that I may be able hereafter to do and suffer all things for his sake and never forget how good he is and how good I have resolved to be Without thee I cannot ascend up unto thee and therefore I look for thy holy inspirations to accompany me in all my Meditations and prayers and praises and thanksgivings and resolutions That attending upon this sacred service with love and zeal and delight and devotion of spirit there may be an happy meeting between me and my Saviour and such an inseparable Union contracted as may be at last consummated in eternal Love and Joy in his heavenly Kingdom To which I humbly hope to be brought by thy infinite Mercies in him who hath taught me to call thee Father and to say when I pray Our Father which art in c. The Meditation afterward SEeing it hath pleased my Lord to tye me to himself by one bond more and I have added a new
inlarge them or that he would fill them to the heighth with his love Since he is content if he may but lodg and dwell in our breasts and have the government of us in his hands let us go and vow that he shall possess us solely to himself that no affection no desire shall dwell in us without his leave and all be ordered by him just as he pleases And let us shew him now that we have prepared no less gift than our whole selves to be bestowed on him that we are very desirous of the honour to be commanded by him and to do him service and that if he will make us more desirous more resolved and stedfast in these holy purposes we will never cease to thank him in this manner as long as we live And approaching thus with all humility to him may we not hope that he will accept us and receive us as his friends and embrace us with real love and inclose us as we desire unto himself Nay he will hold us fast tied in the bonds and cords of his love not to fetter and imprison us but to unlock and open our narrow hearts by the power of it that they be inlarged into the true liberty of love to him and to all the world We may hope at last that it will become as unnatural to offend him as it is to kill our selves or kick against the bowels of a most indulgent parent that obedience shall be our delight that all good things on earth which have been our hindrance shall prove our incouragement and provocation to an holy life and that our watchfulness over our selves shall be so strict and severe that we shall not be easily surprised but continually worship him by presenting him with a spirit like his own innocent harmless and delighting to do all good The Prayer before O Most mighty Lord the high and holy one who possessest eternity who dwellest in the purest light and whose Majesty is enthroned in the midst of all the heavenly host who are continually celebrating the praises of thy name which is most excellent throughout the world The light of thy countenance I believe is better than life and one day in thy courts better than a thousand If thou wilt graciously shine upon me when I enter into thy gates to go unto thy Table if thou wilt fill me with the joys of Faith and love and holy hope I shall account that day the beginning of the eternal life and remember as long as I live how gracious thou art But I have little reason to expect to be so highly favoured by thee who have forgotten oft-times that reverence and fear that I owe to thee my Creator and that love and dutiful affection which I owe to my Redeemer and been too disobedient to many good motions of the holy Spirit of grace I have thought so much how to please my self and so little of pleasing thee spent so much time in the affairs of my body and so little in those of my immortal soul that I may rather sink into dejection of spirit toward the place of darkness than hope to be lifted up toward heaven to behold the light of life I am apt to think that if I knew thee as the Angels do I should be filled with their love and readily disposed to thy obedience and spend my self in thy endless praises whereas now that thou hast revealed those things to us which the thoughts of Angels entred not into and hast sent thy dear Son in our nature and not iâ— the nature of Angels and given him to die for us and to open the kingdom of heaven to us I have not loved thee with the love of men I have felt sometime so little love to thee that I have been apt to doubt whether I love thee It hath been but a little spark in my heart scarce to be discerned and hath not shone as it ought to do in my life before men But thy gracious pardon O Lord of love I hope will make me admire thee and love thee exceedingly Some small tast and savour of thine extraordinary kindness will inkindle in me the most ardent affection towards thee And it is already the hearty desire and study of my soul thou knowest that I may love thee above all things and that all my love may run into ingenuous free and chearful obedience to every one of thy Commands They are all holy just and good they are most lovely and gracious in mine eyes I esteem thy precepts about all things to be most equal beneficial and highly conducing to the perfection and happiness of our natures and chuse most joyfully to submit my self to the Soveraign Authority of such tender love and good-will towards us O pitty and pardon an humble suitor to thee that his heart may ever be under the power of thy holy Commands and being captivated from all things here below may become a subject of thy love I wait on thee for the power of thy holy Spirit now to come upon me to fill me with thoughts desires and affections sutable to the duty which I am about to render to thee That when I think of those sins which killed the Lord of life I may vehemently abhor and utterly renounce them And when I think of thy love it may wonderfully raise and exalt my heart to love thee delight in thee and gratefully acknowledg thee And when I think of thy holy Commands my heart may humbly bow and gladly resign it self to be governed by them And the dying of the Lord Jesus set before my eyes may make me an offering holy and acceptable to thee for ever I am sensible how oft I fall short of my own desires and resolutions and therefore again look up unto thee with a humble Faith for thy powerful presence with me To inlighten my mind more clearly to settle my wandring and unstable thoughts to awaken the conscience of my duty toward thee and toward all men to compose and quiet all my turbulent passions and affections and to confirm and strengthen all the holy purposes which thou workest in me Vouchsafe most gracious Lord to accept and assist the faintest but honest indeavours of my soul to please thee to incourage and further every good inclination to possess and fortifie me against the most importunate temptations and to enable me to quell and bring under the strongest oppositions to thy divine will I deliver up my self absolutely with all my heart unto it desiring and purposing to live instedfast union and conformity with it to maintain an humble and reverend sense of thy greatness and goodness soberly to use all the good things thou indulgest to me to exercise righteousness charity meekness and gentleness to all men to possess my soul in patience to be contented with my portion to pray without ceasing and in every thing to give thanks which is thy will in Christ Jesus concerning me Sanctifie I beseech thee the greatest worldly blessings
my soul I only bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 3.14 15 c. of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named that he would grant me according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in my heart by faith that I being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledg that I may be filled with all the fulness of God Amen The Thanksgiving and Prayer afterward O Lord the fullest and most bountiful good who art rich in mercy to all that call upon thee never weary of our importunities nor weary of importuning us to dispose our selves to receive thy blessings Eccluâ— 2. ult Thy power is the beginning of righteousness and is guided by the greatest wisdom and the greatest love As is thy Majesty Wisd 12.16 so is thy mercy and because thou art the Lord of all it maketh thee to be gracious unto all Thou lovest all things that are 11.24 25 26. and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made for never wouldest thou have made any thing if thou hadst hated it And how could any thing have endured if it had not been thy will or been preserved if not called by thee But thou sparest all for they are thine O Lord thou lover of Souls It is of thy mere goodness that I am not consumed Lam. 3.22 and because thy compassions fail not That I have so much liberty as to recount thy mercies which keep me in life and let it not be as wretched and miserable base and vile sickly and uneasie troublesome and tedious as it might have been according to my deservings is for ever to be remembred with most humble thankfulness I cannot forget unless I cast away all care and consideration of my self from how many dangers thou hast delivered me in what extremities thou hast succoured and relieved me and what friends lovers and kind acquaintances thou hast bestowed on me But the greatest of thy mercies are those which thou hast expressed to us in the Lord Jesus without which all the rest might have made our life in the next world to have proved more miserable and intolerable to us Thou hast sent him in the tenderest and most endearing manner in our own flesh with the most moving and compassionate entreaties and the strongest and most obliging arguments to surrender our selves to thy obedience to whom of right we belong And he hath laid down his life so great was his love the just for the unjust 1 Pet. 3.18 that he might bring us to thee our God And thou hast rewarded his obedience to the death with a glorious Resurrection and set him at thine own right hand and given him the promise of the Holy Ghost Acts 2.33 which he hath shed abundantly on his Apostles to guide them into all truth Joh. 16.13 that they might go and Teach all Nations and Baptize them into his Religion Matth. 28.19 20. and teach them to observe all things that he hath commanded I remember with most grateful acknowledgments the manifold gifts which thou bestowedst on thy Church to confirm the faith of Christ and propagate it in the world till it came to these Regions where I live Blessed be thy goodness that I was born of Christian Parents and without my knowledge very early by their care dedicated unto thee Blessed be thy goodness that ever since I have been thy care and that thou hast brought me up to the knowledge of thy holy Gospel wherein I read this story of thy marvellous love and am instructed in my duty towards thee and towards men and encouraged by exceeding great and precious promises being put in hope of immortal life the pledges of which thou hast ordered and appointed thy Ministers to provide for me and give unto me I have now by thy goodness received them and tasted that the Lord is gracious full of compassion and of great pity not desiring the death of a sinner but that he should return and live This raises thy mercy to the greatest height that thou hast done all this for those who are so dull and insensible cold and careless inconstant and uncertain apt too soon to forget these benefits and great obligations which thou layest on them But thou hast done all this and continuest thy kindness to make us better Which is the thing O Lord that I most heartily desire and labour after and shall ever account it the greatest blessing when I am overcome by thy merciful kindness and am willing to part with my self and all my own desires to gain thee and thy love by being led and ruled in all things according to thy will To that I unfeignedly again submit my self and humbly vow all the powers of Soul and Body to thy obedience I own thy blessed Gospel for the rule and direction of my life and thy Son Christ Jesus for my pattern and example and thy good Spirit for my guide and governour in whose holy comforts I rejoyce more than in any thing in this world For ever magnified be thy love that thou hast exalted one mighty to save and hast sent him not only with a pardon but with the power of the Holy Ghost to renew sanctifie and advance our Nature by changing it into the likeness of thine own I hope in thee O Lord for the continued influences thereof to quicken my Faith and render it more and more effectual in all the actions of an holy life That I may have high and adoring thoughts of thee and humble thoughts of my self overlook the little things here below and labour for those above do good with what I have and lay up treasures in Heaven be contented with my portion and sober and discreet in the use of it live peaceably with all men but not be partaker in their sins and that it may alway be part of my employment in this World thus to worship thee and reflect upon thy goodness and the rest may be to live according to my prayers and acknowledgments Amen and Amen O that all Nations whom thou hast made would come and worship before thee Psal 86.9 10. in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4.23 O that they would glorifie thy Name for thou art great and dost wondrous things thou art God alone But let all Christians especially 1 Cor. 12.13 who by one Spirit are all baptized into one Body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit glorifie the Name of their Lord Ephes 4.3 by keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and agreeing together in Godly love And do thou O Lord the God of Peace direct their hearts into the more excellent way that though tongues and prophecies and miracles are ceased yet that humble kind meek and long-suffering Charity may remain and abound more and more which will bring us all to live in endless love and peace and joy together in the Heavens The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 13. ult and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with me and with all my Friends and all thy Servants every where Amen THus by the help of God I have brought this Treatise to a Conclusion which I hope will not be unwelcome to those that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Ephes 6. ult And I most humbly beseech the Divine Majesty graciously to accept my weak endeavours therein to serve this Church and stir up every Member of it with hearty love to offer up themselves to him in its Publick Service Which so gravely and pathetically expresses the sense of pious hearts at the Holy Communion that these Private Prayers which I have composed to wait upon it can only serve to excite those who will make use of them to joyn with more fervour in the Common Devotions and to continue those holy dispositions which they declare to be in their hearts if they sincerely unite them with these words * In the Prayer after the Communion And here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our Selves our Souls and Bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto thee Which that we may ever be we cannot in a few words better implore the Divine assistance than in those of that incomparable Prayer at the end of our Communion-Service PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorifie thy holy Name and finally by thy mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen THE END ERRATA PAge 53. line 19. read went away p. 179. l. 1. r. heart l. 2. r. mouth p. 320. l. 27. 1. have received p. 357 l. 12. r. Lord Jesus p. 362. l. ult r. a member p. 383. l. 10. r. and growth p. 396. l. 13. r. earnests
bounty in this invaluable blessing and make mention of this which his Son hath suffered for us as a compleat satisfaction for all our offences against him We must approach therefore to the Table of the Lord with affectionate acknowledgments of his infinite goodness extolling and praising his merciful kindness in bestowing on us so great a gift professing we will never forget the tender love of our Lord who laid down his life for us and beseeching the Father of Mercies to receive us into his grace and favour for the sake of his dear Son whose Death we shew unto him We should resolve to express the sense of our hearts in some such words as these Psal 92.1 2 3. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name O thou most high To shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night For thou Lord hast made me glad through thy work I will triumph in the works of thy hand 66.16.86.13 Come and hear all ye people I will declare what the Lord hath done for our Souls For great is his mercy towards us and he hath delivered our souls from the lowest hell Glorious things are spoken of thee John 1.14 29. Colâ—ss 1.15 Joh. â— 12 O Jesus thou lover of Souls The word made flesh the Image of the invisible God the light of the world the Lamb of God that takes away its sin the first begotten from the dead the heir of all things Rev. 1.5 the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Heb. 1.3 Heb. 8.1.9.24.7 25. an high Priest who is set down on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens who appears in the presence of God and lives for ever to make intercession for us Psal 89.6 Who in the Heaven can be compared to the Lord who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord For thou Lord art highly exalted thou art exalted far above all Gods 9â— 9 In this most powerful name O Father Almighty we humbly cast down our selves before the Throne of thy Glory Give us leave to mention before thee the Death of him who said behold I come to do thy will O God Behold O Lord the bleeding wounds of thy well-beloved in whom thou hast testified by a voice from Heaven that thou art well pleased Remember how his Body was broken for us and his Blood poured out In him we believe thou art perfectly satisfied and therefore are bold to hope that thou art reconciled to us on that account O hear his dying groans regard his Agony and Bloody sweat by his Cross and Passion let our sins be blotted out and by his glorious Resurrection and Ascension let us feel every evil affection and lust perfectly killed and crucified We have nothing to plead if he have not done enough and fulfilled all thy will But since he hath laid down his life in obedience to thee O let us by vertue of that voluntary Sacrifice which now we represent before thee obtain thy mercy and grace We cannot be content to lose our share in so great a Love And since thou hast bid us to Commemorate it we hope we shall as certainly pertake of it as we do of this Feast to which thou hast invited us Ps 79.13.145.1 2. So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever We will shew forth thy praise from generation to generation We will extol thee our God O King we will bless thy name for ever and ever Every day will we bless thee and will praise thy name for ever and ever In such Meditations as these when we shew forth the inestimable value of Christs Sacrifice we do as it were offer it unto God or rather make before him a commemoration of his Offering And in this sense the Ancient Christians did call this Sacrament a Sacrifice and every Christian they lookt upon as a Priest and a Sacrificer when he came to the Table of the Lord. Because Christ not only bad his Apostles do this in remembrance of him but S. Paul requires every one of us to do the same and to shew forth his Death till he come There is none mentions this Sacrifice more frequently than S. Chrysostome but to explain himself after he had said we do not make another Sacrifice as the high Priests of old but always the very same he adds or rather we make a Commemoration of a Sacrifice * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Heb. 10. p. 523. edic Savil. And in the very same manner Eusebius writes in his first Book of his Evangelical Demonstration Christians cannot think fit saith he to return back again to the first and weak Elements he means the Mosaical Sacrifices which were but Symbols and Images not the Truth it self ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. cap. 10. p. 37. since they celebrate every day the Commemoration of his Body and Blood and are made worthy of a better Sacrifice and ministery than the Ancients were And a little after speaking of Christs wonderful oblation and most pretious bloody Sacrifice to the Father he adds that he delivered also to us a Remembrance instead of a Sacrifice to offer up continually unto God * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 38. By which words it is manifest he took the Remembrance or Commemoration of Christs death to be that Sacrifice which we make to God And again he saith in the very next page to celebrate the remembrance or commemoration of that Sacrifice upon the Table by the Symbols or representations both of his Body and saving Blood we have received according to the ordinances of the New Testament Hither he applies those places out of the Psalms offer to God Thanksgiving Let the lifting up of our hands be as an evening Sacrifice The Sacrifices of God are a contrite Spirit c. So that they thought of no other Sacrifice in those days but that of praise and Thanksgiving together with the offering of our selves our Souls and bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto him as it is admirably expressed in our Communion Service * Prayer after all have Communicated With which the Author now mentioned perfectly agrees and delivers his mind almost in the same words We Sacrifice ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ib. pag. 40. saith he a divine venerable and most holy Sacrifice We Sacrifice after a new manner according to the New Testament a pure Sacrifice c. we both Sacrifice and offer Incense too Celebrating the remembrance of that great Sacrifice according to the Mysteries delivered by him to us and offering Thanksgiving for our Salvation by godly Hymns and Prayers to God consecrating our selves also wholly to him and to our high Priest the word devoting to him both our Souls and Bodies It would be easy to add much more to the same purpose but
you should behave your selves in so great a presence If a mean subject should receive a message from his Prince to come and bear him company at his own Table would he not wonder and be astonisht at the favour would it not busie every thought in his heart to know the cause and would he not lay aside all other imployment that he might prepare himself to appear there after a decent and seemly fashion He could not be so stupid as not to study to form himself to a comely behaviour and to learn to comport himself with all the reverence and fear the caution and circumspection that his soul could possibly be master of No marvel then if we see good Christians so curious and exact so diligent and laborious to understand the meaning of our Lord in this invitation to dress up their souls in the best manner they are able when they go to his Table and to sute their behaviour to the height of the solemnity since to approach unto Majesty on such an occasion with negligent thoughts and after a careless fashion is to slight both the greatness and the grace of him who grants us the honour of his society To gratifie therefore the pious desires and endeavours that are in any souls to render themselves fit company for our blessed Lord at this feast I shall spend a few pages of this Book in directing them how to demean themselves before him and dispose their hearts to enjoy most sweet and fruitful communion with him And that I may make my discourse more easie and affectionate withal I shall take the rise of it from one of those things just now named Much of the contentment of a true feast consists in apt and good discourse according to the old saying a supper without discourse is a Crib and not a Table * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore the old Roman I mention'd gives this description of the chosen persons of whom he would have his guests consist that they should be such as know how to speak in a decent manner and are neither talkative nor altogether dumb ‖ Nec loquaces nec omnino muti Our Lord then making a feast here for us and presenting himself unto us in this broken bread and wine poured forth we are not to look on these as dumb signs but as things that speak most significantly and distinctly to us Though we hear never a word with our ears yet our minds are to conceive when Christ crucified is set thus before our eyes that we hear him discoursing to us of his Love of the ends of his death of all the great blessings that he hath bought for us and of all those things which he justly expects from them that profess themselves his disciples And accordingly it becoms us to make such replies unto him and to answer in our hearts with such expressions of our affection as may shew that we understand and are very sensible what he says unto us Of both these I shall treat a little leaving it to every mans own devotion to inlarg them as he sees occasion in his private Meditations First then when you see these symbols of Christs body and blood think that you behold the crucified Jesus represented to you that you stand in his sight and are in his company yea and hear him speaking graciously to you and calling you by the name of his chosen guests his dear friends and beloved Brethren Into what a trance would it cast you if you really saw the Lord of life and glory and heard him thus saluting you How ready would you be to fall into a swoon of love and joy at the very mention of these few words My Brethren And yet for such he esteems us saying I will declare thy name among my Brethren Heb. 2.12 And so he called his Disciples after he arose from the dead saying Go tell my Brethren that I go into Galilee and there they shall see me Matth. 28.10 and again go to my Brethren and say unto them I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God Joh. 20.17 And we may well conceive that in such terms of grace he receives us at this holy Feast and make account we hear him say My Brethren I sent my Ministers to call you to my house and bid you to my Table which here you see spread for you It is well done that you are come and I take it kindly to see you here The reason of my invitation is that I may remember you of my love and that you may shew your selves my Friends by a joyful commemoration thereof I have no other end in sending for you but to make you more sensible of your happiness and to lay obligations on you by doing my will to continue in it and likewise to impart unto you new tokens of my love the very greatest pledges that I can bestow on you to assure you that I will be your eternal friend You may think perhaps that this is but a little bread and wine which here you see before you and that it is but poor cheer which I have provided for you But open the eyes of your mind remember and believe what I have taught you and you will see that this is my body which was broken for you and this is my blood which was shed for you and on these I would now have you feast together Behold here how the spear pierced my side See the hole which was made by the lance when it run to my very heart Do you not discern how my hands were wounded how my feet were bored when I was nailed to the Cross for you How despitefully was I used how cruelly was I martyred and tormented besides all the mockeries and abuses the shame and reproach the agony and bloody sweat which I endured to do you Service Did I not love you think you when I suffered thus for you Can you chuse but read the greatness of my affection which is writ in my most pretious blood Can you doubt that you are dear unto me whom I have purchased at so high a rate Let these wounds speak for me and tell you what a passion I was in for your sake Look into them and see what a vehement desire I had to accomplish your salvation What sorrow was there ever like unto my sorrow or what love was there ever like unto my love This broken bread and this wine poured out tells you that I have dyed once for you already and I am now come by giving them to you to let you know that I do not repent me of it but if it were needful I would die for you the second time What greater assurance can your heart wish of my love than this which I now offer you what more would you have me do to testifie that my heart is still towards you and that I will he ever mindful of you As the Father hath loved me so I have loved
man to an heap of gold yet still we must remember that we are but beggers and those desires must be temper'd with much modesty lowliness and humility of Spirit Though our Lord say to us as David to Mephibosheth 2 Sam. 9.7 thou shalt eat bread at my Table continually thou shalt alwayes feast with me yet it becomes us to bow down our selves and say as he there did what is thy servant that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am It is too high a favour to sup with thee since I am not worthy to pick up the crums that fall from thy Table The least offal of thy common mercies is too good for me how shall I dare to approach to this fulness of heavenly blessings to which thou invitest me I have sinned I have sinned and am not worthy to be called thy son or to bear thee company In my very best attire I am so ragged that I am ashamed to see my self and therefore how shall I appear before thee O my Lord I come merely in obedience to thy call I should not have presumed to appear in thy presence but that thou hast hidden me And been affraid to be seen in this condition but that I was more afraid not to be seen here at all My comfort is that you will not be angry with us when we obey thee nor be offended that we shew our selves ready to execute thy commands And here You may call to remembrance those sins which are the cause of your fear and brought our Saviour to his Cross Excite in your heart an unfeigned sorrow and grief that he hath been so affronted and wrong'd by you and all the world Declare freely the sense of your heart to him and let him know by an humble and ingenuous confession how the case stands with you Say to him O my Lord thou dost but call to mind by this remembrance of thy dying for us the foulness and polution of all mankind All our iniquities stare me in the face as the people gazed and stared on thee I see our deformities by seeing thee thus vilely and despitefully used It was our covetousness that stript thee naked Our pride that crown'd thee with thorns Our intemperance that gave thee gall and vinegar to drink Our contempt of Religion that put upon thee all those scoffs and taunts Our coldness in devotion which put thee into that agony and sweat Our want of love to God that made thee hated and rejected of men I see as in a glass now that I look upon thy blood the abominable state of sinful men which never seemed so foul as now How shall one of that wicked race be bold to look up unto thee especially since that I have known thy love I have so little valued it and sinned even against thy pretious blood * Here you may remember your particular offences Canst thou indure to enter into familiarity with such a soul as this that here presents it self unto thee may I hope to be admitted into thy holy fellowship and to dwell with thee I abhor I loath I am weary of my self desiring nothing more than to be made like to thee in purity and holiness in truth and justice in love and charity in lowliness and humility in meekness and patience in compassion and forgiveness in intire resignation to the will of God From hence Proceed to stir up in your selves the greatest hatred against your sins and all the wickedness that hath overspread the world Which nothing can so effectually demonstrate to be odious and intollerable as this that it hath made the nature of man capable to act such a villany as to put to death after a most shameful manner the most innocent and harmless nay the most loving and kind the most obliging and charitable person that ever was Continue your addresses to him and represent your extreamest detestation of that covetousness and worldly mindedness that pride and vain glory that ambition and love of the praise of men that envy and ill will that wrath and bitterness of spirit that hippocrisy and partiality which betrayed and killed him the Prince of life Shew him how much you abhor these and all that is evil resolving to cleave to that which is good Destroy O Lord may you say all these thine enemies and root them perfectly out of my heart Pierce through all these evil affections by a stroke from thy cross and passion I have brought them to be slain by thine hand for they are too strong for mine If there be any life remaining in them O that they may be quite mortified and never able to stir any more They are offensive to me as well as unto thee Would I might never see them more but crucified and dead Would I might never behold them unless it be drowned in thy blood And then Excite in your heart the mightiest sense of his love which as it is never to be forgotten so here it is more particularly to be pondered and affectionately commemorated You may say to him O my Lord was manner of love is this wherewith thou hast loved us that we should be called the sons of God! How great was thy goodness which brought thee down from Heaven and made thee one of us And was it not enough that thou shouldest come to dwell among us in the likeness of sinful flesh but thou wouldest also lay down thy life for us Would nothing serve to testifie the height of thy affection to us unless thou sufferedst the death of the Cross to redeem us O Love O the infinite riches of thy grace For a Friend one might be content to die but what should make thee so in love with enemies with the very worst of enemies with Idolaters with us Gentiles who were without God in the world Yea with us who now that we know the greatness of thy love have so little or no love to thee What am I O Lord that thou shouldest command me to love thee Nay shouldest take such a course to deserve my love What am I to thee that thou shouldest so much desire me And now thus graciously visit me and come to entertain me What made thee being in Heaven with them who know so well how to love and serve thee descend to us who know so ill how to do either couldst thou not be satisfied unless we enjoy thee nor be contented to be without us who have such low thoughts of thee and of thy love Is it possible that thou shouldst still continue it to such ill-natur'd and insensible wretches Art thou still desirous of our friendship and come to give us new assurances of thy grace by making us pertakers of thy body and blood O how pretious are thy thoughts to us how great is the sum of them I can do no less most blessed Saviour than set my soul wide open to thee and accept thy kindness with the most inlarged affection of my heart How glad should I be
that I may live for ever in thy love and be ready to die for thy love that I may delight to do thy will O God and be content to suffer it as the blessed Jesus did And O that I may never forget to feed on him daily by faith and love till he indeed live in me and I in him and all the powers of my soul and body be imployed by his counsels and not my own O that my life may be an exact imitation of him and express his perfections and shew forth his vertues and declare to all how much I love him Especially endue me with great humility and modesty of Spirit that I may live in a constant remembrance of thee my Creator and considering that thou art the author of every good gift may never be puffed up nor do any thing through strife and vain-glory Phil. 2.3 4 5. but in lowliness of mind esteem others better than my self O that the same mind may be in me which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and humbling himself became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross That so thou mayst exalt me in due time to glory and honour as thou hast highly exalted him and when thou shalt call me from this delightful imployment of worshipping praising and serving thee here on earth I may pass into the company of Angels and Saints whose work it is with eternal joy to glorifie thee our Creator and Redeemer Let thy way be known upon earth Psal 67.2 3. and thy saving health unto all nations Let the people praise thee O God Let all the people praise thee Let the earth rejoyce and the multitude of Isles be glad because the Lord Jesus reigneth and governs the world in righteousness and truth O that all the kingdoms of the earth may become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ That Turks Jews and all Infidels may be converted unto thee and that all who name the name of Christ in every place may depart from all iniquity Communicate especially to all Christian Kings Princes and Governors a large measure of wisdom justice and goodness That they may think it their greatest Crown and glory to be thy faithful Ministers and imitate the charity of our Lord Jesus by imploying their power in doing good to all that are under their charge O that thy Priests may be clothed with righteousness and thy Saints shout aloud for joy That the poor may be satisfied with bread the fatherless find mercy with thee the widdows be comforted and protected the disconsolate refreshed the sick eased and restored the prisoners delivered the captives redeemed the oppressed supported and relieved and all men in every estate and condition of life contented bettered and amended Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think Ephes 3.20 21. according to the power that worketh in us unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Amen February The Meditation before the Sacrament THink with your self it is now a month since our Lord did me the honour to entertain me at his Table Where have I been ever since that happy time What have I been doing Have I never gone to return him thanks for that grace bestowed on me Have I been a perfect stranger to him who loves me so much who spake so kindly then unto me and gave me such assurances of his everlasting kindness O shameless ingratitude How shall I be able ever to look him in the face any more I shall sink and die under the load of such a fearful guilt But I hope the case is not altogether so bad with me Have I not sometimes reflected on his incomparable love Have I not endeavoured to preserve some memory of the benefits he hath done unto me Is there not still a little sense of them remaining in my heart I would fain incourage my self to wait again upon my Lord. Pardon me O God if I presume again to enter into thy gates with thanksgiving and into thy Courts with praise to eat of the bread which came down from Heaven to shew forth the Lords death to represent to my God the Sacrifice he made for the atonement of our sins and by vertue of it humbly to expect the continuance of his pardon to renew my Covenant with him and to receive new confirmations of the truth of his promises to me Awake Awake O my soul all thy holy thoughts thy Faith thy Love and every other grace till thou canst say with David My heart is fixed Psal 57.7 O God my heart is prepared I will sing and give praise Go and shew him how thy heart hath been wounded with the thoughts of his love how all thy sins have been bleeding to death how ready thou art to offer up thy self again in Sacrifice to him Shew him how resolved thou art to walk on still more steadily in his holy wayes to employ all the renewed strength thou shalt receive in his hearty service and to go forth in the joy of the Lord to do his will with greater freedom and cheerfulness of Spirit Then thou mayest think thou hearest that voice of wisdom which saith Prov. 9.5 Come eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled Or that of the divine Lover Eat O Friends drink yea Cam. 5.1 drink abundantly O beloved Let your soul be satisfied as with marrow and fatness Psal 63.5 and your mouth praise him with joyful lips For Christ himself saith Blessed are the poor in Spirit Matth. 5. for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth Blessed are they which do hanger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called the children of God Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven As he will one day say to such Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world So now he authorizes his ministers to say come ye blessed souls receive the tokens of his love some earnests of future bliss and rejoyce in hopes of his heavenly kingdom He hath not only prepared for you a kingdom but as the Psalmist speaks in another case he hath prepared a Table for you and anoints your head wish oyl that gladness where with our royal high-Priest is crowned and makes your Cup his coelestial blessings poured on us to run over Let us go then and humbly receive that Cup of blessing to which he invites us Let us bless the Lord and
no more till the same solemnity come about again How wilt thou be able then to appear before him at that time with what face wilt thou look upon him whom thou slightest so much as to love any company better than his Will it not confound thee to think that thou art but a stranger to him though thou hast been so often with him and that he can find nothing of himself in thee no not after so many professions of the greatest love and friendship to him O let him see that he hath not bestowed himself on one that knows not how to value so divine a guest Preserve an everlasting memory of his dying love Never fail to thank him for it every day with the greatest passion thou art able to excite Look on him seriously and study to be like him Never take off thine eyes from his beauties till all his lovely qualities be imprinted on thy heart Imitate his humility and great condescention to us of low estate Learn of him to be meek and lowly in heart â—atch 11.20 〈◊〉 5.2 â— Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Purifie thy self 1 Joh. 3.3 even as he is pure Heb. 13.5 Let thy conversation be without covetousness Psal 37.3 and be content with such things as thou hast Trust in the Lord and do good make him thy hope and thy portion That as long as thou livest Christ Jesus may be seen among men O what a goodly sight would it be to behold our Lord still walking up and down in the world To see the loving the peaceable the meek the merciful the holy Jesus again upon the earth Do thou resolve to be that blessed man in whom he shall appear Let not his Image and likeness be lost whilst thou art in being and labour to leave it upon others when thou art dead and gone Particularly thou mayst resolve all this month to meditate often on the PATIENCE of our Lord under ah the rude affronts and cruel pains he endured from his enemies and the great dulness untowardness and slowness to believe which he found in his Disciples That so Patience may have its perfect work in thee to the end thou mayst be perfect and entire Jam. 1.4 wanting nothing For we have need of Patience Heb. 10.36 that after we have done the will of God we may receive the promise Rest in the Lord therefore and wait patiently for him Psal 37.7 fret not thy self because of him who prospereth in his way because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass Resolve not to be discouraged in thy Christian course whatsoever it be that thou art to do or suffer Warn them that are unruly â— Tâ—â—ss 5.14 comfort the feeble minded support the weak be patient toward all men Remembring that this is the character of those who received the heavenly seed with honest and good hearts Luke 8.15 that they brought forth fruit with patience And we know that the fruit of patience is experience Rom. 5.3 4. and experience worketh hope and hope maketh not ashamed The Thanksgiving and Prayer ALL thy works praise thee O Lord they proclaim thy greatness thy wisdom thy power and goodness throughout the world There is no place in heaven or earth where their voice is not heard But the mouths of rational creatures ought most to be filled with thy praises whom thou hast made to understand the wisdome and majesty of all thy works We our selves O Lord are fearfully and wonderfully made Thou hast adorned mankind with most noble perfections and given us dominion over the works of thy hands And after we had despised this honour which thou didst us chusing to become like the beasts that perish thou wast pleased to do us a greater and to demonstrate an infinite wisdom power and charity in our recovery by Christ Jesus I bless thee O God for that abundant grace and for that part and portion which thou hast given me in it That thou wast pleased to come so lovingly and dwell among us and appear in the likeness of sinful flesh to what can I ascribe it but thine incomprehensible love and readiness to do us good I most heartily thank thee that thou wouldt so mercifully comfort us by thy divine presence among us and incourage us to hope in thee that wouldst not destroy us And that thou hast proclaimed as much by thine eternal Word and bidden us to hope in thy mercy Above all that thou hast assured us by his Death and Passion that thou wilt pardon our sins and by his Resurrection that thou wilt bestow on us eternal life There is no end O Lord of thy loving kindness For thou continuest to give us new assurances and tokens of thy good will towards us and hast now entertained me at thine own Table with his most pretious body and blood It is too little O God of all grace to give thee my self if I had any more to give All that I can do is again and again to give my self to thee And as I have at thine Altar offered my whole soul and body to be employed according to thy holy will and pleasure so I continue here to renew my devotion to thee and to oblige my self by repeated vows to be thy servant I hope I shall never suffer thy love to slip out of my mind nor forget the promises wherein I stand ingaged to thee Yea that thou in thine abundant goodness wilt always accompany me by thy holy spirit which our Lord hath bid me expect from thee to preserve alive his memory in my heart that I may ever be a follower of him in poverty of Spirit in meekness in mercifulness in purity of heart in peaceableness and studying to be quiet 2 Thess 3.5 And the Lord direct my heart to the love of God and the patient waiting for Christ That I may endure all the troubles of this life with a composed constant spirit and never repine at any thing that befalls me That I may chearfully suffer for righteousness sake and taking up my Cross Heb. 12.1 2. run with patience the race that is set before me looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of thy throne of glory Rom. 15.5 6 7. Now the God of patience and consolatiâ—â— grant us all to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus That aâ—â— Christian people may with one mind aâ—â— one mouth glorifie thee our God and receivâ—â— one another as Christ also received us unâ—â— thy glory Unite our hearts in love and charity and give us grace to follow afteâ— those things which make for peace Rom. 14. â—â— and thing wherewith one may edifie another O that the power of all
prone to content my self with reading or hearing thy word with speaking of thee or praying to thee and all many times without any love or but with little affection to thee Yea while I make mention of thy love I am not so much in love with thee as it deserves I have beheld the Sun of righteousness shining upon me and received the dearest pledges of thy loving kindness without that warmth and heat of love which it might have excited The liveliest Truths have not penetrated so deep as they should into my heart But though thou hast been pleased to intreat so earnestly and promise so liberally as if thou shouldst be indebted to me for my love it hath many times but little stirred this dull soul towards thee Thou hast loved us so much as to purchase our love at any rate having redeemed us with thy Sons blood which is the greatest price and called us to thy kingdom and glory which is the greatest reward but alas how unconcern'd have I been too oft in all these wonders of thy love I am ashamed of my self I blush to think that after so long acquaintance with thee I should love thee and delight in thee to no higher a degree Which is the only thing next to thy grace which pitties our weaknesses that gives me hope I shall at last love thee far better Still make me more ashamed that after all thy care and pains thou shouldst see so little of thy self in me And assist me by the power of a mighty grace which I will endeavour to improve to fix mine eyes more stedfastly on thee and to stay my thoughts with thee till I love thee so much as to be changed into thy likeness Now that I am going to commemorate thy love in Christ Jesus let not my ingratitude provoke thee to absent thy self from me but according to the gracious Covenant thou hast made with us in his blood be merciful to my sins and remember not mine iniquities against me Make me know and feel that thou dost pardon me by exciting holy resolutions in me to purifie my heart more perfectly and disposing me intirely to love thy holy nature and will and conform my self unto it in all things O that all carnal affections may die in me and all things belonging to the spirit may live and grow in me That I may have power and strength to have victory and to triumph against the Devil the world and the flesh That I may utterly hate every thing that is evil and cleave most affectionately to that which is good Yea that I may hate even Father and mother and the dearest thing in this world rather than sin against thee and forsake thee That no relation no pleasure no profitable injoyment may ever turn my heart from thee but rather draw me to thee and make me more in love with thee All thy creatures may justly complain of me if I should not love thee above them all But how shall I answer it to our Lord Jesus if his love should not constrain me O that the spirit of thy ancient Saints may hereafter possess my heart That I may cry out after God Psa 131.6 even the living God That I may watch for thee more than they that watch for the morning And my soul may follow hard after thee 63.8 and even break for the longing it hath to thy judgments at all times 119.20 That I may be a diligent follower of their Doctrine 2 Tim. 3.10 manner of life purpose faith long suffering and patience Psal 119.103 O that the words of thy mouth may be sweeter to me than the honey and the honey comb Psal 119.47 That I may delight my self in thy Commandments which I have loved And the light of thy countenance may be better to me than life it self Amen Confirm and strengthen good Lord all the holy desires and dispositions which thou hast wrought in my heart that they may ripen into all the fruits of righteousness which are by Christ Jesus to thy praise and glory In his holy words I further recommend my self to thine infinite mercies saying Our Father c. The Meditation afterward O Love what hast thou done said an holy man when he thought of the Mercies of God in Christ Jesus Thou broughtest the Son of God down from Heaven and made him appear in the likeness of man Thou broughtest him to his Cross and made him an offering of a sweet smelling savour unto God O Love what wouldest thou not do mayest thou say to thy self if thou didst but possess our hearts That which made him like to us and brought him down hither would make us like to God and carry us up to Heaven If I did but love God what could he demand of me which I should not immediately do How naturally should I study to please him How easie and delightful would it be to comply with his will And what a favour should I count it that I might know his will which I am o do None of his Commandments would be grievous to me but all his ways pleasantness and all his paths peace And will it not be very strange if I should not love him who hath loved me so much and is still demonstrating his kindness to me I must forget my belief if I should not love him and that he will not let me forget but calls me often to his holy Table and feeds me with the sweet remembrance of him There he represents to me that which I continually profess to believe That he is the Father Almighty of whom the whole family of Heaven and Earth is named That Jesus is his only Son our Lord that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified and put to death rose again ascended to Gods right hand and will come at last to judge the quick and dead This is my Faith May I never make confession of it Gal. 5.6.2.20 without feeling it excited to work by love May it alway call to mind the vows I have made to live by this Faith of the Son of God Acts 15.9 May it purifie my heart that when he shall appear again and come to judge the world 1 Pet. 1.7 my faith may be found to praise and honour and glory Amen This was the reason you may here consider that good men anciently advised all Christians to repeat the Creed every morning Not as a Prayer or a Preservative from sin meerly by the force of the words but to put them in mind that they were the followers of Jesus who had done and suffered so much for them and to quicken themselves to love and to good works which are the natural fruits of saith in Christ Resolve therefore to reflect on it for this end Shew that thou dost willingly remember the Lord Jesus and studiest to stir up his love in thy heart and hast not only some sudden flashes
who were his Creatures sinful Creatures with his own blood Surely we do not believe this How joyful how thankful should we be how holily how purely should we live if we thought our selves so nearly related to him What faith what hope should we place in him How confidently should we trust our selves and all we have with him How willingly should we resign our selves to his pleasure who hath not thought this too much to do for us And how contentedly should we want what he pleases not to give who hath done us such an honour as to marry us to himself If he had taken hold of the Nature of Angels and laid down that life that pretious life which was spent for us for their redemption how much would those heavenly creatures have loved him And yet now that he is desirous of our little love he cannot have it O my soul what is become of that love which thou lately professedst to him I thought the last time we were at his Table that thou wast mightily sensible of his love and wouldst never cease to love him Didst thou not protest that nothing was so dear unto thee as thy Saviour and his Commands and pretious promises That thou hadst rather lose thy life than lose his favour And didst thou not resolve that thou wouldst preserve it as thy life by all the acts of love to God and man O how easily do we forget the greatest benefits How apt are we to pay him only with liberal promises If he had not made us this new invitation to his Table it is possible we might have forgotten that we have any obligations to him But this sweet voice of thy Saviour which calls upon thee saying come do this in remembrance of me how doth it awaken and revive that love which sometime I felt in my heart to him Thanks be to his goodness for this new opportunity to acknowledg his love and to profess my own I hope in time I shall love him to the height of my desires and by these frequent remembrances of him become perfectly like him Though very unworthy therefore of this new favour who have been so unmindful of the old I will go into his house and present my self at his Altar if it be but to declare that I belong to him and am not willing to lose his blessing I will shew him at least that I do not quite forget him and have a mind to become a better Christian But how is it possible that I should see the representation of his mighty love that I should behold his pains and agonies for my sake and do no more than tell him that I keep him in mind and intend to obey him I cannot chuse but vow my self intirely to him I must bind my self in the most sacred Covenant to keep his Commands I can do no less than assure him again that I love righteousness and hate iniquity and will chuse death rather than to displease him Nay I will resolve never to cease to renew these vows and multiply my ingagements and then at last sure I shall become stedfast in his Covenant Psa 112.1 and delight my self greatly in his Commandments Psal 119.167 48 44 162 127 72. My soul shall keep thy testimonies and love them exceedingly My hands also will I lift up unto thy Commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy statutes So shall I keep thy Law continually for ever and ever I will rejoyce at thy word as one that findeth great spoil And love thy Commandments above gold yea above fine gold The law of thy mouth shall be dearer unto me than thousands of gold and silver Let us go my soul and thank him heartily as for other benefits of his passion so for these hopes I have of becoming so perfectly in love with him that I shall exactly resemble him Ps 42.11 Hope in God for thou shalt yet praise him who is the health of thy countenance and thy God If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me But verily God hath heard me Psal 66.18 19 20. he hath attended to the voice of my prayer Blessed be God which hath not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me The Prayer before O Most high and Holy one who canst not be comprehended by our shallow thoughts nor by any other thing but only thy self Though inconceivably beneath thine infinite Majesty and also a miserable sinner I make bold in the name of the Lord Jesus who is my hope with humble reverence to prostrate my self before thee Acknowledging that thou art my Maker my Lord and Soveraign and that I being the work of thy hands must needs be thy servant and subject Yea thou hast given me leave every day to call thee Father and ownest me for thy child With what fear and astonishment with what grief and sorrow doth it become me to ly in thy presence How heavily have I condemned my self by these acknowledgments For I have not always honoured and served thee as my Creator nor loved and delighted in thee as my most gracious Father nor obeyed and submitted to thee in all things as my Soveraign Lord and Master I have too oft rebelled against thine Almighty power and authority and spurned against the bowels of thy love and broken thy most holy Laws and violated that faith which I professed in my Baptism and have many times since plighted unto thee Thine Almighty mercy accuses me The passion and torment the death and resurrection the threatnings and promises all the love of my dear Saviour condemns me and so do the mighty works and the gracious inspirations of the Holy Ghost And yet I have no whither to fly nothing to trust unto but that Almighty mercy the passion and love of our Lord the power and grace of the Holy Ghost How shall I hope for pardon from that love which I have offended and look for mercy from those tender mercies which I have too much slighted With what confidence can I expect a remedy from that power which I have resisted O the long-suffering and patience of my God! O the infiniteness of thy mercy and the pretiousness of that blood that can wash away so many transgressions against it self I adore thee I thank thee O God who hast set forth Christ Jesus to be a propitiation Rom. 3.25 through faith in his blood By his Cross and Passion Good Lord I hope to be delivered and wait on thy mercy for the power of his holy Spirit to wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity Psal 51. and cleanse me from my sin Assist me thereby I most humbly beseech thee to purifie my self from all filthiness both of the flesh and of the Spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 to purge my mind my affections my passions from whatsoever is offensive to thy pure eyes who canst not approve of iniquity For I would have no uncleanness no inordinate affection Col. 3.5 8. no
of my love and the coldness of my affection to him who hath deserved to be remembred with the greatest passion For I have long professed love to him I have received many testimonies of his special kindness to me and given many assurances of mine to him And yet how pale and dim are those marks of a great love to him which are plainly visible in me to others Am I ever casting mine eyes towards him Doth he often present himself before my mind and feelingly touch my heart Am I never better pleased than when I am going to him Is the question rather what will please him than whether I shall do it He hath declared his will in his holy Gospel Am I glad to hear of it and read it and very desirous to know it in all things Can I forsake my own will chearfully to follow his And doth it grieve me much that his excellent laws are not observed and that all Christians do not love and honour him O Lord thou knowest our weakness and how hard it is to keep our minds and hearts so stedfastly fixed upon invisible things And in great pitty therefore hast ordained holy mysteries for a frequent remembrance of thee and to represent thy self and thy love more sensibly to us By this means I hope to grow in time to a perfect love ever bearing thee in mind and delighting to give thee thanks and praise and conforming my self to thy blessed will and desiring and studying that thy name may be hallowed and honoured by me and by all men else throughout the world This hope incourages me to go to thy Table though very unworthy to be entertained by thee There I hope also my Lord will meet me and speak kindly to me as one that loves him at least a little better than any thing beside and is resolved and determined to love him more and more He invites us thither to increase our faith and to nourish our love and to strengthen our hope and excite our gratitude and exercise all our graces and therefore I will not refuse his kindness even because I desire and long to love him so much But first my soul let us examine our selves whether we be sure that this indeed is the very sense of our heart that we really love to please him in every thing and heartily mean to proceed in this love to the most ready and willing obedience to all his Commands And doth it not become us humbly to confess the foolish wandrings of our affections from him to blush for shame that we fall so short of our own resolutions and to excite our selves to greater watchfulness and diligence in well doing Ought not the very remembrance of our former coldness to put a greater heat into us And our former backwardness make us to be more forward and zealous Should we not vow our hearts again to him And let him know that we shall not think we live when we do not love him and that we shall be willing to die that we may more love him But how can we hope to grow still better by these new expressions of his love to which he invites us without his gracious assistance which ought to be faithfully implored Let us go then to him before-hand and desire him to raise up those thoughts and affections in us which we cannot produce in our selves that we may bring an heart full of love to him and carry it away full of joy to find it more inlarged to love and serve him The Prayer before O Most holy and ever blessed Lord of heaven and earth who art good and dost good to all thy Creatures and to us above all the rest who are most unworthy of thy loving kindness It is but a part of my duty to admire and praise thy great and glorious perfections to reverence thee to worship thee to love thee and with heart and tongue both here and eternally to acknowledg my dependance on thee to give thee thanks and speak good of thy Name But it becomes me no less to debase my self in the lowest manner before thee because all that I speak in thy praise declares my foul ingratitude to thee my Creator and constant benefactor There is nothing that I can justly call my own without thy leave and I have received exceeding much from thy bounty and thou hast made me that I might enjoy satisfaction in thee the most Soveraign good and taken care to bring me acquainted with thee which ought now to be remembred with the greatest humility thankfulness and joyful resignation of my self and all that I have to thy obedience But alas how little do I feel thee though I live and move and have my being in thee Though I have tasted of thine abundant goodness every moment how late was it before I seriously thought of my obligations to thee Now that I see thou hast sent thy son the express image of thy person among us how little is it that I know of thee and what a stranger am I still to thee I have been too willing to receive but small benefit by his appearing and to content my self with a little measure of that purity wisdom and goodness which he came to impart unto us Thus foolish and ignorant have I been and it was but fit that we should sink into the greatest stupidity when we were such fools as to leave thee and follow the counsels and desires of our own hearts For ever adored be thy infinite charity who art not willing to lose us when we are so forward to lose thee and our selves Blessed be the exceeding abundance of thy grace in Christ Jesus which continues to invite even such senseless wretches to come unto thee who have so little esteemed it or know how to value the unsearchable riches of it The marvellous greatness of thy forbearing and pardoning mercy if nothing else will incline and excite my heart I hope to love thee much above all things That so at last I may love thy blessed nature and perfectly understand that it is my happiness to have thy image renewed in me in righteousness and true holiness Thou hast often convinced me praised be thy goodness that it is impossible for me otherwise to be happy Thou hast wrought many strong resolutions in my soul to be guided and governed by thine unerring wisdom and holy will And I have felt the comforts of a pure humble meek merciful peaceable and loving disposition of heart Perfect good Lord what thou hast wrought in me that all the pious inclinations of my soul may settle in a firm and lasting habit of well-doing Our righteousness I know cannot profit thee but thou delightest to communicate thy self to thy creatures especially to those who think it the greatest treasure to be inriched with thy wisdom and to be made partakers of a divine Nature O thou who hast given me this knowledg who hast given me a will to chuse thee for my portion make me compleatly happy
to me support me under the heaviest afflictions fit me for the most sudden or lingring departure out of this life and for whatsoever thy wise providence shall order for me while I stay in it and by all these means prepare me for everlasting glory And O that the nearer I approach unto it the brighter sense of it may shine in my heart chasing away the fears of death and the cares of life And that I may now begin it by praising thee in the company of thy Saints with joyful lips and every day praise thee better and long more for that happy state where we shall have nothing else to do but love and praise thee for ever The Lord Jesus Christ be with my Spirit 2 Tim. 4. ult in whose holy words I further recommend my self to thy wonted Mercies Our Father c. The Meditation afterward IS there any need after all that thou hast heard and thought and said of thy blessed Saviour that I should call upon thee and bid thee love him Need I entreat and earnestly beseech thee my Soul to preserve the memory of his most obliging kindness and exhort thee to go again and again to praise him in this manner Methinks we may turn our thoughts and our speech to him thanking and admiring the excess of his love that he will let us approach thus near unto him It is his love that he will at all regard us and receive the love we offer to him But it is a great marvel of his love that he hath entreated us so often and used so many arguments to us and laid so many obligations on us to love him What are we that he should seek after us on this fashion who had a mind to lose him It is strange that he will accommodate and address himself to our very senses that our dull flesh may not hinder us from loving him Good Lord that thy delight should be with the Sons of men Couldst thou not live unless we lived also Canst thou be at all the better for us Have we been kind unto thee since thou hast done all this for us Or do we use half so many entreaties to thee to do us good as thou hast done to us to be good to our selves O be astonished at the greatness of his mercy Do but throughly affect thy heart with the heighth and depth of his love and love will make more pathetical and moving exhortations to thee than any thought can invent I will leave thee under the power and constraint of thy love Cease to love him if thou canst if thou dost but think of his love But think withal what an hopeless condition that Soul is in which the love of God in Christ Jesus cannot move and prevail withal to love him And what may all thy Brethren expect from thee who are partakers of the common Salvation together with thy self Canst thou find in thy heart to offend him for whom Christ died Wilt thou not open thy bowels of compassion towards others when thou standest in so great need even of infinite mercies thy self Shall some small differences between you four thy heart or blunt the edge of that affection which is sharpned by the Divine love to us when we were strangers and enemies to him by evil works How canst thou chuse but be ready to do good and to forgive even those that have done evil to thee To bless them that curse thee Luke 6.28.35 36. and pray for them that despitefully use thee Remembring that thy reward then shall be great and thou shalt be the child of the Highest for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil Be thou therefore merciful as thy Heavenly Father also is merciful Here resolve to meditate all this Month very often upon that part of our Lords example which he left us when he died in PRAYING FOR HIS ENEMIES his bitter enemies his malitious and ungrateful enemies his enemies that with implacable wrath most Devilishly contrived the destruction of the most innocent loving obliging and bountiful person that ever walked upon the face of the Earth Remember also how sweetly and mildly he treated even that villanous Traitor his own Servant who betrayed him with a base hypocrisie saying no worse words than these to him Matt. 26.50 Luke 22.48 Friend wherefore art thou come betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss And let not either the greatness of mens malice or their barbarous requital of the benefits they have received from thee or their treacherous hypocrisie or their vile dissimulation or any other aggravation of their crime hinder thee from following thy Saviour and stifle thy love to thy enemies And particularly express thy love by praying most earnestly for them bewailing their folly and madness pitying the ungodly hellish state wherein they are and imitating the charity of Heaven to which thou recommendest them Open thy mouth with meekness of wisdom Prov. 31.26 and let the law of kindness be in thy tongue Speak to them graciously who have disobliged thee And if thine enemy hunger feed him Rom. 12.20 21. if he thirst give him drink heap coals of fire on his head that if it be possible he may be melted into better nature and his evil may be overcome with good The Thanksgiving and Prayer afterward O Most holy and ever blessed Lord of Heaven and Earth who only hast immortality and dwellest in light unapproachable by mortal eyes shining in the glory of thy own perfections and not needing any reflections from thy Creatures Thou art full beyond our thoughts and ever communicating out of thy fulness abundantly beyond all that we can conceive We cannot comprehend the vast number of Creatures which thou hast made who all praise thee and declare thy magnificent goodness nor are we able to fathom the least part of that bounty which feeds them and provides for them and takes care of them every where Much less can we comprehend thee in whom they all live and move and have their being and from whom they are continually supplied without diminishing thy full goodness We the children of men have received a more liberal share in thy blessings than the rest of our fellow-Creatures and had most large experience of thy never ceasing love and kindness to us For after we had spent and wasted those great treasures wherewith thou didst endow our natures thou hast been pleased to grant us a new and better portion and to raise us up again with the addition of many Talents Having sent thy Son to redeem us and to be the Author of a supernatural birth to us to declare to us all the will of thee our Heavenly Father and to give us exceeding great and precious promises the expectation of which might incourage us to do all that thou requirest of us Thou hast sent him blessed be thy goodness to bring us Life and Spirit to strengthen us against all the powers of Hell and Earth to break
wilt sooner part with it than not perform his holy will in every thing Vow to him again that thou wilt be true and faithful to him Embrace all thy Brethren there assembled with a kind affection because they are his friends and followers Desire that all the world should know him and be acquainted with him and that a perpetual memory of him may be preserved by doing this as long as the Sun and Moon endure And canst thou do it without those passions which the thoughts of a Friend are wont to raise up in thy heart None of them sure will be absent upon this occasion They will all attend thee in this holy action and thou wilt feel the greatest gratitude to thy Saviour who hath done so much to deserve thy love which is so little worth to him Then thou wilt hear him as good as say unto thee Son be of good chear thy sins are forgiven thee All that I have is thine I will be an everlasting friend to thee and make thee inherit all things It is my Fathers good pleasure to give thee a kingdom and here I give thee the earnest of that purchased possession What reason hast thou to doubt of the injoyment if thou art my friend by doing whatsoever I command thee Do not friends partake in each others goods My power which I have over all things in Heaven and earth shall assist thee My Angels shall be thy guardians My spirit shall be thy guide and director My comforts shall incourage and support thee Because I live Joh. 14.19.10.10 thou shalt live also For I came that my sheep might have life and that they might have it more abundantly The Prayer before O Most holy and eternal God who art good and dost good the whole earth is full of thy goodness Thy mercy reacheth unto the Heavens and thy faithfulness unto the Clouds Thou art great in power wisdom and all other perfections and therefore greatly to be feared honoured and loved by all understanding creatures When I consider how much thou hast done for me or how much I have often promised to do for thee I am on both hands confounded and ashamed in my own thoughts Thou art my Creator my Father my Saviour deliverer and constant Benefactor the God of my life of my health of all my present comforts and future hopes I have promised often to be thy faithful servant and thy dutiful child to honour and glorifie thee both with body and soul and all the good things thou hast bestowed on me In my Baptism I was dedicated unto thee and have many times confirmed that gift and renewed my engagements to continue in thy obedience In my promises protestations and vows I have been very liberal but how sparing in performance thou who art acquainted with all my ways knowest And I my self know so much of my negligence that I may justly wonder thou still retainest me in thy family and lettest me enjoy the priviledg of thy children Adored be thy great long suffering and patience towards me and all mankind Thanks be to the name of the Lord who after our abuse of so many blessings hath added the gift of his dear Son and sent him to pay a ransome for us O the unconceivable greatness of that love which hath so much befriended the most ungrateful enemies I humbly mention the blood of his Cross as a sufficient sacrifice oblation and satisfaction not only for my sins but the sins of the whole world I lift up my hands unto thee in his name to receive that gracious pardon which he hath purchased for me hopeing thorough him that thou wilt still continue thy love unto me who am stedfastly resolved to love thee above all things Far be it from me to think that the love of our Lord should maintain me in any rebellion against thee or countenance my contempt of thy holy Laws No love me so much good Lord as to change my will and renew my nature into thy own likeness that I may be truly a friend of God I wish for no greater happiness than to feel my soul at peace and friendship with thee by an intire and unchangeable love to all righteousness goodness and truth And I am going to remember his dying love that with the heartiest affection I may devote my self wholly to thy love and service I do as unfeignedly desire that all my sins may die as I am glad that Christ died to be a propitiation for them And I as sincerely offer up my self my understanding my will my desires and passions and all that I have unto thee as I really believe that he offered up himself for me O that the power of the holy Ghost may accompany me and unite my thoughts and affections to make a most thankful commemoration of his loving kindness Represent unto my mind most feelingly all that Jesus hath done and endured for our sake Fix my mind and heart upon the inestimable benefits he hath obtained to me That I may not only behold the outward figures of him but receive those pledges of his love with the humblest reverence with such a lively faith and vehement love and ready submission of my will to him that Christ Jesus may be inwardly formed in me I long for the happiness of knowing assuredly that I am a friend of his by my delighting greatly in his Commandments and trusting my self and all my concerns intirely in his hands and contenting my self in his love and good will toward me and rejoycing in the Soveraign Dominion power and glory which thou hast given him with most earnest desires that all the world may love and obey him Amen Our Father which art c. The Meditation afterward WIth what unwillingness are we wont to leave the company of a Friend in whom we delight How doth the remembrance of him stick unto our mind How often do we think of the kind words we heard from his mouth and view the tokens he hath left with us of his love Do we not use to cast our eyes behind us when we go from him and look after him as long as he is in sight Are we not glad to see but his back when we cannot behold his face O sweet Jesus then shouldst thou say to thy self who can be content to part with the thoughts of thee when he sees the love thou bearest to us and all the blessings thou impartest to thy friends and followers What heart can endure to lose the sight of such happiness or suffer thy remembrance to die out of its mind I should look as far as heaven rather than suffer thee to go out of my thoughts and always be casting mine eyes to thy dwelling place that I may behold at this distance though never so little of thy most excellent glory So one would think in reason But this dull flesh begins to complain that it is tired and cannot thus follow thee any further It makes me sigh to think that I must lose
preserved pure and undefiled as the Temples of the Holy Ghost it may be my constant guide strength and comfort and lead me safely through all the difficulties and dangers of this world the enticements of the flesh and the crafts and subtilties of the Devil to a place of peace and safety in the regions above where I may for ever dwell in thy love and sing thy praise O that all the people did praise thee O God that all the people did praise thee That the whole Earth were filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea and all those that know thee did walk worthy of thee as children of the light and of the day having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Bless thy Church planted in these Islands that we may not receive in vain that grace bringing Salvation 2 Cor. 6.1 Tit. 2.11 12. which hath appeared to us teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world But from the highest to the lowest have grace Heb. 12.28 whereby we may serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear Comfort all my Friends forgive all my Enemies relieve those that are in any misery draw all sinners to repentance and help all good men to perfect holiness in thy fear that at last with one consent we may all unite our hearts and tongues in thy everlasting praises Now the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God 2 Cor. 13. ult and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with us all Amen November The Meditation before WIth what wonder and admiration do we entertain those things which are strange and unusual The very news of them carries great numbers to see them and the sight of them fixes their eyes on them as if they could never have enough of them Behold here the wonder of wonders which thou art called to see and seed thine eyes and heart withal God is come to dwell in Flesh This flesh is made a sacrifice for the sins of the world And he invites thee now to a Feast upon that Sacrifice that thou mayest dwell in him and he in thee O marvellous love what eyes ever saw such a sight as the Son of God dying on a Cross The only begotten of the Father bleeding as a malefactor The glorious King of Heaven laying down his life freely for his own subjects Rebels I should have called them and enemies to him Where are all my thoughts Where is my admiration What is become of my love Whither are all my desires gone It will be a new wonder if they do not all assemble themselves together at the commemoration of such love which doth me the grace to make me partaker of that Body and Bloud which was so offered up to God Strange that my thoughts should be so heavy and my affections so cold that my hunger and thirst should be no more excited at the very motion to go to the house of God to make a thankful remembrance of his death We think the Angels lead an happy life in their blessed employment of giving continual Praises to God why do I not go then with a more forward joy into the Courts of the Lord to do this in remembrance of Christ which those Heavenly creatures do not do For he hath not taken hold of the nature of Angels Heb. 2.16 but of the seed of Abraham for whom he hath prepared also this Sacred food of which they never tasted Vnto which of the Angels said he at any time thou art my Son Heb. 1.5 13 this day have I begotten thee or sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy foot-stool Art thou not desirous of honour and greedy of gainful preferment Art thou not prone to seek great things for thy self What greater honour or dignity can there be than to be so nearly related to the Lord of all to be members of him that is Head of all Principalities and Powers Behold the treasures of grace and glory which he offers thee and by these signs of his Body and Bloud would make over to thee Is not Love the very life and Soul of the World Is it not the â—oy and satisfaction of hearts Behold here the worthiest object of it that ever was See how he would fill and possess thy whole Soul with perfect contentment And lest thou shouldest be so unhappy as not to dwell in love see how he would engage thee by these bonds in which thou â—rt going to tye thy self to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart soul and strength and thy neighbour as thy self How doth he comply with thy most natural inclinations How doth he study to gratifie thee in thy most noble desires Call up thy best and purest thoughts Strain thy self to the heighth of admiration Endeavour to forget all other things and only to look at present upon Jesus If any thing can make thee love God it must be his love If any thing can make thee hate sin it must be this Sacrifice for it If any thing can make thee willing and obedient â—it must be his obedience to the death Think then when thou comest into his presence that thou seest him hanging on his Cross Think thou seest him spreading out his arms and resigning himself to the will of God That thou beholdest hiâ— gaping wounds and the Bloud trickâ—ling down his Sacred body That thou hearest him cry unto thee Did I not love thee when I bled to death for thee Did I not love thee when I endured this painâ— and sorrow to redeem thee Could I do more than give my self to deliver thee from death and open the Kingdom of Heaven and Eternal life And then what heart iâ— there that need be taught what it should say and what it should do on this occasion Who can refrain himself from giving blessing and praise and glory in the highest to him Who can want thanks to render him for such invaluable benefits Oâ— find in his heart to deny him his serviceâ— Nay who would not rejoyce to think oâ— serving one that hath merited thus of him and intends to reward his duty with that very glory which the Father hath given him Our Lord cannot but expect to see thy mind fraught with Heavenly thoughts and a most high esteem of him thy hearâ— mighty full of love and vows and resolutions ready to be presented to him thy will bowing and submitting it self wholly to his disposal And to all such he saith by his Ministers Come to my Supper for all things are ready Come and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort Rejoyce with me and be exceeding glad for I love you and will love you to the end The Prayer before O Most holy Lord of Heaven and earth the greatest and most desirable good the only rest and satisfaction of our souls Whom to know is the beginning of life whom
to love purely is our perfection upon earth whom to possess in an unchangeable wisdom charity and purity is heaven it self It was thy great goodness to make us to know thee and â—ove thee and be like unto thee And a greater to sue unto us and intreat for our affections But it is the greatest of all a miracle of thy love that thou hast sent such a person as thy Son Jesus to beseech us and to add mighty importunities to his intreaties that we would do that which we ought to be desirous to be admitted to do as the greatest happiness we are capable of Lord what is man that thou art thus kind unto him we are very little things hugely below so much of thy notice We are naturally infirm and crazed in our bodies And our understandings are short sighted our reasonings weak and childish our passions easily disordered our resolutions inconstant and by sin we have made our selves worse and turned these into greater mischiefs So that if thou hadst been pleased to shew but a little pitty and compassion to us and not suffered us to become extreamly miserable what could we have expected more from thy goodness But that thou shouldest design to advancâ— such piteous and wretched things a we are who know not how to valuâ— and esteem thy benefits to the statâ— and dignity of thy children to makâ— us like thy self in righteousness goodness and truth and at last to give us a blessed immortality in soul and body O how astonishing is this love which thou hast shewn to us in the Son of thy love the Lord Jesus I am ashamed to think that this grace hath waited so long upon me and been no better entertained and improved That my apprehensions of it are still so dull my reasonings of so little force to constrain my whole soul unmoveably to love thee and delight in thee and to live to thee for ever I most humbly flee to that grace which hath abounded thus towards me for the pardon which it hath promised to those who yield themselves to be governed by it O let not thy unwearied goodness be provoked yet to cast off the care of me But continue to hold before mine eyes thy love in Christ Jesus and the great glory which he hath purchased for us till my heart be overcome and subdued perfectly to his obedience That I may abandon every evil way which is inconsistent with the enjoyment of his favour and happiness and it may be the very business of my life to purifie my self as thou art pure from all inordinate cares and fears from sensual lusts and bruitish passions from anger and hatred envy and malice pride and vanity falseness and dissimulation murmuring and discontent and whatsoever is opposite to thy blessed Nature and Will declared by Christ Jesus O that the Faith of Christ which thou hast already planted in my heart may take a deeper root that as I believe him to be the Lord of all who died for me and bought me with a price and is risen again to be the author of eternal Salvation to those that obey him and will come to judg the quick and the dead so I may constantly reverence him and religiously keep his holy Commands and stedfastly trust him and make him my hope and love his appearing that I may be found of him then in peace And now that I am going to make him my renewed acknowledgments and devote my self to his holy obedience Lord fill me with such worthy thoughts affections and resolutions that I may know that I love him and may rejoyce in hope of his eternal love unto me O that nothing may interpose when I am at thy Table to hinder the effect of these holy desires that no cloud may arise in my mind to obscure my sight of his love no vain thought to draw me aside from meditating on his death and passion for my sake but I may be carried then and alwayes with a strong and irresistable inclination to do his will Let my prayer come before thee Ps 141.2 as the incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening Sacrifice Hear me O Lord Psal 143.1 â— and give ear to the voice of my supplications in thy faithfulness answer me and in thy righteousness And enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Our Father c. The Meditation afterward WHAT our Saviour said to the people concerning John the Baptist may be imitated by thee with a small alteration Luke 7.24 c. What went you out for to see a reed shaken with the wind a thing of no moment But what went you out for to see a man clothed in soft raiment Some worldly pomp and bravery behold these are in kings Courts But what went you out for to see a Prophet Yea I say unto you and much more than a Prophet For among those that are born of women there is not a greater Prophet than John the Baptist Where hast thou been mayest thou say to thy self At an ordinary meal or a common entertainment What wentest 〈…〉 out to receive a piece of bread and 〈◊〉 cup of wine that we have in our 〈◊〉 houses Or what wentest thou from 〈◊〉 to see a dumb shew a silent gray 〈◊〉 company of serious faces Those w◠〈◊〉 see in them that mourn for any dead friend Or what wentest thou out for to see Bread broken and wine poured out in a solemn and holy manner by the appointment of Christ Jesus Yea and much more than so Christ himself the Son of the blessed under those signs and figures of his death This is he of whom it is written behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world Verily there is none born of women like unto him the only begotten Son of God the heir of all things And thou hast been at his Table thou hast beheld the astonishing love of God in delivering him up to suffer for thee thou hast received the pledges of his dearest love and the earnests of all those goods that he possesses Couldst thou see no beauty in him that thou shouldst desire him Nor taste no pleasure in having friendship with him Is it nothing to partake of the merits of his sufferings To be made the Son of the King of Heaven and the heir of his love by being made partaker of his divine nature and disposition Where were thine eyes then What were thy thoughts doing None ever believed and considered this love that God bears to us who was not moved and inflamed by it to love him above all things For the Creator and Possessor of Heaven and earth to love thee what a word is that Who can hear it and not be at once both amazed and transported Especially when he loves thee so much as to send his own Son unto thee yea his only Son the Son of his love who hath so loved thee as to spend
his dearest blood in thy service and all this freely without any motive but his own love and to procure us the greatest blessings no less in conclusion than immortal life What heart can think of this and not be over-powered by it And need he entreat thee not to forget the love he hath shewn unto thee to spend a few thoughts every day on such a Friend that hath deserved so much of thee A mean request which should be granted one would think without the asking And wilt thou be at no pains to preserve his memory Shall he slip out of thy mind unless he force himself into thy company It is easie to be warm by a fire side It is almost impossible not to be moved when the person we love is before our eyes But when we are gone from the fire we must exercise our selves not to grow cold again And when a friend is at a distance from us we must look upon the tokens we have received of his kindness or some other way bring him to our remembrance Or rather our great love to him will often present him before our imagination Do but love 〈◊〉 Saviour then in an hearty manner and 〈◊〉 canst thou fail to love him more 〈◊〉 little thing is all that he desires of 〈…〉 thou wouldst love him best and 〈◊〉 do even what thou wilt For you may consider that it is the nature of all love not to let our heart be joyned to any other object which shall in any degree prejudice that which is principally loved What never is esteemed honoured and admiâ—â—ed by us above all others will not permit any thing to be entertained that shall any wayes â—njure it in our thoughts and affections We are naturally averse to any such objects and reject them with disdain as those which are inconsistent with our better desires If thy Redeemer therefore be advanced and seated in thy heart by an unfeigned love to him above all things on earth it will render every thing despicable which wo ld draw thy heart from him or in the least abate thy devotion to him Thou wilt look upon it as a base temptation and an unworthy offer which is not only to be slighted and rejected but hated and loathed Thou wilt say I am dead to sin I cannot live any longer therein I have done with all your adulterate pleasures Jesus is my joy my life and my crown what pleases him pleases me His love is a Law within my heart and therefore I delight to do thy will O God And the more to fortifie thy self thou mayest often meditate all this month upon the COURAGE and CONSTANCY the Fortitude and Magnanimity of Jesus in asserting the truth of God For this is particularly remembered by S. Paul as a part of his character that he witnessed before Pontius Pilate a good confession 1 Tim. 6.13 By which we should excite our selves out of love to him Ib. v. 11.12 to follow after righteousness godliness faith charity patience and meekness whatsoever it cost us Let the dangers be what they will we should still fight the good fight of Faith to lay hold on eternal life For herein is our love made perfect that we have boldness in the day of judgment 1 Joh. 4.17 18. because as he is so are we in this world There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love The Thanksgiving and Prayer afterward I Humbly offer unto thee O Lord together with the whole company of Heaven the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving which is eternally due to thy most bounteous goodness The whole world was made by thee out of nothing The Heavens the Earth the Seas and all that are therein confess themselves the work of thy infinite wisdom and power Out of the dust thou hast framed our comely Bodies and inspired into them immortal Spirits on which thou hast ingraven thy own image Thou didst put thine own Majesty upon us that all thy creatures here should be obedient to us and we be obedient only to thee the great Lord and Governour of all O how great was the honour which thou conferredst upon us And how much more wonderful the grace thou hast given us in Christ Jesus after our disloyalty and shameful disobedience to thee Thou hast sent him to redeem us from Hell and Death by his precious Bloud And given thy Holy Spirit to sanctifie our hearts and aâ—◠〈◊〉 our duty thy Gospel to be ou◠〈◊〉 thy self to be our Example thy â—â—â—â—sters to be our remembrancers â—â—y Sacraments to be the Signs and Seal of thy blessing I have now tasted oâ— thy great and abundant love Thou hast feasted me at thy Table and satisfied me with thy good will toward me and filled me with joy and gladness in thy favour more than if all thâ— riches on Earth had been encreased What shall I render unto thee and dâ— for thee who hast done all this for me who am less than the least of all thâ— mercies My heart burns within mâ— â—ll I have offered up my self again unto thee and resolved to spend my â—ays in praising loving and serving â—hee to the best of my power O that this holy sense of thee may never quite â—anish out of my mind But I may be â—lways inclined to think of thee to declare thy loving kindness to approve my self to thee by studying and doing thy will with chearfulness of heart I have now knit my self to thee by new â—onds and engagements which I desire may be never loosed O that my â—ows and promises may stand as fast as â—hine everlasting Covenant That nothing may make me break my Faith which I have now and in my Baptism given to thee but I may always as I stand bound most heartily continue to believe in thee to fear thee * The words of the Church Catechism which excellently expresses the duty we owe to God and our Neighbour to love thee with all my heart with all my Soul and with all my strength to worship thee and give thee thanks to put my whole trust in thee to call upon thee and to honour thy holy Name and Word and to serve thee truly all the days 〈◊〉 my life And assist me by thy Heavenly grace to do my duty also faithfullâ—g towards my Neighbour to love him 〈◊〉 my self and to do to all men as I would theâ— should do unto me To love honour and succour my Father and Mother to honour anâ— obey the King and all that are put in Authoriâ— under him To submit my self to all my Gâ—vernours Teachers Spiritual Pastors anâ— Masters To order my self lowly and revâ—rently to all my betters To hurt no body 〈◊〉 word or deed To be true and just in all 〈◊〉 dealing To bear no malice nor hatred in 〈◊〉 heart To keep my hands from picking anâ— stealing and my tongue from evil speaking lying and slandering To
keep my body inâ—eâ—perance soberness and chastity Not to coâ—â— nor desire other mens goods but to learn aâ—â— labour truly to get mine own living and to 〈◊〉 my duty in that state of life unto which it shâ—â— please God to call me I desire also the good of all mankind that they may partake of the knowledge of the Lord and enjoy the fruits of his Death and Resurrection especially that all Christian people may walk worthy of the Lord who hath called them to his Heavenly Kingdom And particularly all Kings Princes and Governours may be as careful to observe his Laws as they are desirous others should observe theirs That they may remember the honour thou cast done them in exalting them so â—igh to the end they may imitate thee 〈◊〉 doing good to all below them Purge out of thy Church every thing â—hat dishonours the Religion of our Lord and endangers Souls Unite â—ll the members of it in the profession of the true Faith and in sincere Charity that the poor may be relieved the sick comforted the fatherless and widows visited in their affliction sinners â—eclaimed the obstinate softned and all that are in unbelief brought into the â—â—ock of Jesus Christ And grant unto us all that havâ— Communicated together this day thaâ— peace which passeth all understanding humility meekness obedience fortâ—tude contentedness patience longinâ— desires after Heaven and willingneâ—â— to die that we may rest in an hoâ—â— Hope and have a blessed Resurrectioâ— with the just Amen December The Meditation before the Sacrament NEed I be told after a whole years service at least of my blessed Master Jesus what that duty is I am now going to perform unto him Am I not preparing my self according to his command to make a solemn commemoration before God Angels and Men of his unheard of love in dying for us To make a profession of my sincere love and affection to him To engage to him my fidelity To renew the Covenant that is between us To open my heart to him and to confirm to him the most absolute possession of my Soul and Body To wait on him for his continued grace and that I may feel the â—ower of his Death and Resurrection To â—â—ow him my willingness even to take up â—is Cross and to be his Disciple and follower to the very death To testifie the â—ove I bear unto and the Communion I desire to hold with all the Christians that â—re throughout the world To exalt the â—ame of the Lord and to speak his praises who would give his Son for us and who hath condescended to a treaty of peace with us and upon such easie terms to become friends with us yea reward us and do great things for us O how sweet is the remembrance of these blessings How happy am I that he will not let me forget them But with a continued kindness invites me again to this delightful employment I will go and give him thanks for all his benefits and for this among the rest that he hath made me so often partaker of his blessed Body and Bloud and now gives me a new opportunity to celebrate in this manner the memory of his love And O that my heart were lifted higher than ever after so long acquaintance with him in admiration of his grace in faith in love in joy in praise and thanksgiving in strong and vehement desires and in cordial resolutions to be his devout and faithful Disciple O that the hearts of all men else who shall approach his Table may be disposed to the like zeal and fervent affection to his service and so many Souls as there are then present so many living Sacrifices there may be to God so many wills resigned into his hands with ardent love That so those holy Spirits which the Apostle tells us were present in their Christian assemblies may be invited to come into ours And beholding nothing but what is reverend serious pure and full of true devotion they may be excited to rejoyce and praise God together with us for our sincere affection to his Religion And they may make report among their Heavenly company above that Christian piety is still remaining in the world and that we have made a great increase in growth in it this year by our frequent remembrance of the Lord Jesus which may stir them up all to bless the great and glorious name of our God which is exalted above all blessing and praise The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens and his Kingdom ruleth over all Psal 103. Bless the Lord ye Angels of his Bless him all his hosts Bless him all ye works of his in all places of his dominion Bless the Lord O my Soul Stir up thy self to bless the name of God our Saviour who hath not cast us out of his sight when we threw off our obedience to him but sent his Son to gather us again to him to invite us by precious promises to endear himself to us by shedding his heart bloud for us to open the gate of Paradise again and restore us to immortality to make us equal with the Angels and rank us among the eldest sons of glory Let us go and if it be possible excite a greater love in our heart toward him than ever we felt before Let us offer up our selves to him with a stronger flame of devotion which may always burn and rise up higher and higher till it touch heaven and lift us up thither where our Saviour is in the high and holy place God blessed for ever Amen The Prayer before ETernal God whose omnipotent word brought me and this whole world of creatures into being Out of the fulness of whose goodness we are all fed and maintained and by whose rich and abundant grace it is that our souls are not in a desperate and forsaken condition but may approach with some confidence to thee our Maker who in thy Son hast revealed thy self unto us a most merciful Father I fall down before thee in an humble reverence to perform that Religious duty which I owe thee as thy creature and much more as thy redeemed one through the purchase thou hast made of us by the blood of Jesus I admire adore and love all that I know of thee I extol and praise thy wisdom thy bounty thy holiness and truth which endureth for ever I acknowledg my self beholden to thee beyond all my words or conceptions either I reproach my self for my base ingratitude and all the wrongs I have done thee I confess the justice of thy proceedings shouldst thou strip me of all those good things thou hast bestowed on me I give thee the glory of thy ineffable and never enough to be valued love in thy Son Christ I disclaim all opposition to thy will as base unjust and unaccountable I vow to thee my intire service and obedience and approve all thy Commandments as righteous wise and good I lay new bonds upon my self to keep and
should we have besought his favour to us that had highly affronted his Sovereign Authority and Sacred Laws he hath dispatched a glorious Message as if we were the greatest persons and so many little Gods And had it not been too great an honour for us to think of if he had sent one of his meanest servants in the Heavenly Court to visit us Or if he had bidden an illustrious Seraphim to come and comfort and chear us by his bright appearance or one of the Cherubims to flye all over the Earth and make proclamation in their ears that the King of Heaven would be reconciled to his rebellious subjects Would it not have filled the whole world with wonder and made all mankind stand at a gaze to see themselves so highly favoured O what a grace then was it that God should send his Son his only begotten Son the Prince and Sovereign Lord of all that Heavenly host upon this business of reconciliation See my Soul that which astonishes not men only but Angels themselves who proclamed the birth of this Prince of life with the loudest shouts of joy saying Glory be to God on high Luke 2.14 and on Earth peace good will towards men Towards men do they say Lord what are they that thou shouldest put this honour on them What are the greatest and noblest men on Earth What is their excellency and worth that such addresses should be made unto them O joyn thy self my Soul as well as thou art able with those bright morning-Stars that sang for joy when the foundation of the new world was laid and say Glory be to the eternal majesty of Heaven and Earth who possesses all things and can suffer nothing that he would deign to send to us his poor subjects Glory be to his Almighty love who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish Joh. 3.17 but have everlasting life For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved O blessed Jesus how ardent how powerful was that love which brought thee down from the Heavenly company above to us here on Earth yea Ephes 4.9 Psal 139 15. to the lower-most parts of the Earth To be cloathed with our rags to dwell in our mortal flesh in the likeness of sinful flesh Mightest thou not at least have been apparelled like the best of men and been found in the habit and fashion of the noblest of us but thou wouldest also condescend to the form of a servant that the most despicable of all mankind might never suspect they should be despised by the King of glory O what an humble love was this to us most wretched sinners What heart can conceive the infinite force of it How infinitely is it above all words We do but declare that we know little of it if we are able to talk much about it It is fit for our wonder and silent admiration for adoring thoughts and devout exstasies of love Only I will go and declare in the assemblies of his people these wonderful works of the Lord and publish his goodness with the voice of thanksgiving and praise Lord what new wonder is that which there I behold This glorious person murdered by his subjects The new born Prince of the world the Heir of all things caught Matth. 21.39 and cast out and slain by those to whom he was sent to demand their obedience O the miraculous wisdom of this love That he should be born and come among us to die for us and take our flesh that he might offer it on the Cross and make peace and reconciliation by being slain and shedding his bloud Go my Soul and shew forth his death to Angels and Men. For this is the up-shot of his love that while we were yet sinners Christ would die for us By this he hath made an atonement for us by this he hath obtained an Eternal Redemption with this offering God is well satisfied and by this he hath exalted our Nature to the right hand of God that he may always appear in his presence for us With what love and joy and zeal should we commemorate this never to be forgotten love With what hearty affection should we offer our selves to him How glad should we be of this new opportunity to vow to him our obedience With what tender love should we embrace all our Brethren who are flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone as he is And how comfortably may we hope that God will be gracious to us who hath not only sent his Son to make his abode among us but also to lay down his life for us Let us go and bless his name that to us a Son is born to us a Child is given even Christ the Lord that he hath â—aised up a mighty Salvation for us and hath redeemed us out of the hands of all our enemies that we might serve him without fear all the days of our life And let us receive these earnests and pledges of his good will as hopeful assurances that he will never end his love till he hath conveyed us thither where Jesus is But how shall we come there unless it be in those steps whereby he ascended from Earth to Heaven Go therefore and offer to him an heart of flesh to be moulded and framed into what figure he pleases Desire him to form his own image in thee to subdue thee perfectly to his will that it may be thy meat and drink to do it and to finish the work he hath for thee in the world Think thou hearest him say as Abimelech to the men of Schechem to move them to elect him for their King Remember that I am your bone and your flesh Judg. 9.2 Behold my body which I took for your sake See here how dear you were to me and how nearly related I stand to every Soul of you Will you not suffer me to rule over you Such a Lord as is so much concerned for you Will you not be governed by me that am your Brother as well as your Lord And then me-thinks we should all answer with one accord other Lords have reigned over us but now none but thou O Christ none but thou O Christ Rule and reign over us for ever for we are thy Servants The Prayer before O Eternal God the Soveraign Lord of all creatures both in heaven and earth who art before all things and on whom they all depend To whom we owe all honour and homage all love and dutiful affection all praise and thanks service and obedience throughout our whole life I acknowledg O Lord that I am never more unjust than when I do not render all this most freely and chearfully unto thee I cannot deny the debt wherein I stand engaged though I have too often denyed to pay it For thou hast raised me out of the dust and preserved me from
resurrection These are the beauties of Jesus which I admire This is the Image of him which I have vowed to carry always in my heart This is the glory of humane nature the honour and dignity to which I would be preferred I desire to be great in nothing but his humility to be rich only in contentedness patience and good works to be glorified in meekness and sweet condiscention to have the pleasure only of pleasing God and my Brethren to their edification to rejoyce that Gods will is done though mine be crossed And it is no small joy to see the beginnings of this beauteous image drawn upon my heart He that did not despise the Virgins womb will not despise the humble oblation I have made of my self to him nor that little likeness he sees in me of himself Dost thou not see my soul what great things come from mean beginnings How a poor Babe that lay in a manger came to be the King of glory Hope in God then that thou shalt grow to a greater stature and more exactly resemble thy dearest Saviour He hath given thee assurance that he will not over-look thee now that he sits on the Throne of his glory It is a Throne of grace too unto which thou mayst address thy self and find grace to help in time of need Do but let him see how much thou honourest him how pretious his memory is unto thee how thou art in love with his purity and he that was manifested in our flesh will manifest himself in thee He will adorn thee with all his graces and make thee shine as a light in the world in humble charity in meekness of wisdom in chearful patience and devout obedience Blessed be God for this hope I have no cause to envy the greatest persons No not her that carried him in her womb and then in her arms if there had been nothing more For though we are apt to say as the woman among the multitude did Blessed is the womb that bare thee Luke 11.27 28. and the paps that thou hast sucked yet Jesus saith yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it They that hear or believe his word conceive him in their heart and they that do it bring him forth in their life Blessed be Jesus for the least share I have in this blessedness I will spend this holy day in praising him for the hope I have to partake of more of it What can there be more delightful to those who know what it is to believe in him and obey him And in what shall we spend the rest of this time wherein we commemorate his coming into the world Shall we be so uncivil to our Lord as to go more willingly to feast with our neighbours than to feast again with him Shall we go to their houses with more chear than unto his I will never so dishonour him God forbid that I should feast my body more than my Soul I will rather imitate the ancient Christians who could find in their heart to meet every day before the morning light to sing Hymns to our Saviour I will at least be able to say with David O that all others may bear me company in it I have gone with the multitude Psal 42.4 I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that kept Holy-day The Thanksgiving and Prayer afterward O Eternal Majesty of Heaven and Earth the Father of mercies by whom all things were made out of nothing whose Almighty hand supports them from falling back into nothing again and whose good providence keeps them from being miserable Thy Wisdom is past finding out thy Power is irresistable thy Love and Goodness is unmeasurable and thy tender mercies over all thy Works O how great are thy tender mercies to us O Lord How large a portion hast thou given us in thy love Thou hast not dealt so with any Creature as thou hast done with Man on whom thou didst instamp thine own image and cloathed him with immortality and made him Lord over the works of thy hands And so great is thy goodness that when he had lost himself by departing from his obedience to thee thou wouldest not so lose thy sinful Creature but chose rather to do wonders that he might not perish Thou hast sent thy Son to seek after him and restore him to thy self Thou hast not abhorred our Nature but loved us so much as to manifest thy self in our flesh and honour us with the glorious title of thy Sons the Brethren of the Son of thy love Christ Jesus I have remembred with all thankfulness this day his humble and loving descent from Heaven that he might be born and dwell among us to comfort us in this sinful and troublesome world with his Divine presence to assure us of thy good will to us and invite us friendly to return to thee to instruct and encourage us in our duty to put us in hope of endless felicity and at last to die and give himself a ransom for us that he might be touched with a sense of our infirmities being in all points tempted like as we are without sin I again adore O Lord thy most glorious Majesty I reverence thy Power and greatness I wonder at thy wisdom and am astonished at thy goodness I have neither words nor thoughts befitting the inestimable benefits thou hast bestowed on us O that the Holy Spirit which was in our Saviour would inspire my heart with devout affections towards thee O God of all grace that I may love thee more than I can express more than now my heart can think and I may joyn chearfully with all the Heavenly Host above that are still giving honour blessing glory power and dominion to thee for ever and ever For unto us a Child is born Isa 9.6 7. unto us a Son is given the mighty God the Prince of peace of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily And we are members of his body Coloss 2.9 10. of his flesh and of his bones Ephes 5.30 In him we are compleat which is the head of all Principality and Power and hath redeemed us by his bloud Rev. 5.9 and made us Kings and Priests unto God to offer unto him Spiritual Sacrifices 1 Pet. 2.5 and we shall reign with him for ever Amen I confess O Lord that I am less than the least of all thy mercies And though I have been ungrateful even for the greatest yet thou continuest the course of thy goodness and hast now newly admitted me to the Communion of Christs precious Body and Bloud Thou pitiest also my weak and childish thoughts my heavy and dull affections and all the wandrings of my foolish imagination and dost not estrange thy self from me though I am so little moved by thy miraculous love O thou who
hast done such great things for me bear still mercifully with me exercise more of thy patience and show thy self exceeding great in forbearance and long suffering towards me Thou who hast given thy Son unto me vouchsafe to send thy Holy Spirit to over-shadow my Soul and form Christ Jesus within me That conceiving him in my heart by a lively faith and belief of his Gospel I may be made partaker of a Divine nature and express him in his holiness meekness humility patience charity contentedness and simplicity in perfect innocence in doing good and entire satisfaction in thy fatherly love O that the new life to which I am born by the incorruptible seed of thy Word which liveth and abideth for ever 1 P t. 1.23 and for the nourishment of which thou hast provided this holy Feast of which I have now partaked may encrease unto a perfect age to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ that so at last I may be begotten again from the dead and be a child of the resurrection to live for ever with the Lord. And for that end dispose my heart as a new born babe to desire the sincere milk of thy Word that I may grow thereby That since thou hast caused thy Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning I may in such wise hear them read mark learn and inwardly digest them that I may obey from the heart that form of Doctrine Rom. 6.17 whereunto I have been delivered and by patience and comfort of thy Word embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ Vouchsafe good Lord so to direct and govern me that I may never profane this Body which thou hast so sanctified honoured and exalted by intemperance or any impurity nor this Soul which is so dear to thee by pride or envy hatred or malice wrath or revenge covetousness or discontent But I may repose a perfect trust and confidence in thee for what I want seeing thou hast not with-held thy Son thine only Son from us and be thankful for what I enjoy and live in the love of thee my God and of all my Brethren and possess my body in sanctification and in honour that I may humbly wait for thy mercy in Christ Jesus to eternal life Help me this very day to begin to use all bodily good things with holy fear with thanksgiving with pity to the poor and needy with a sense of spiritual delights and hungerings after righteousness and with most earnest longings after that feast of joy and gladness which we hope to keep with thee in the Heavens O that all the world may hear the glad tidings of a Saviour that there may be great joy among all people Let all the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee Let them lift up their hands unto thee in his name and bow their knees unto him and let every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father And O that all they who do confess him may have their conversation as becomes the Gospel and be continually offering up the Sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving and be communicating and doing good Kings of the Earth and all People Psal 148.11 12 13. Princes and all Judges of the Earth Both young men and maidens old men and children Let them praise the Name of the Lord that God in all things may be glorified through Christ Jesus to whom be praise and dominion 1 Pâ—t 4.11 for ever and ever Amen On Newyears-day if there be a Communion may be added this short Meditation LEt us consider my Soul before we go to the Holy Table for what ends we go thither and with what hearts we ought to go Is it not to admire the greatness of Gods love in giving his Son to us and the greatness of Christs love in giving himself for us Is it not to render our highest thanks and praise to the Father and the Son for this inestimable love in giving his bloud a ransom for us and then to offer up our selves wholly to his love Is it not to renew our Baptismal Covenant wherein we promised to forsake all his enemies and to lead a mortified life in all obedience to his will To represent to God what his Son hath done for us and humbly to hope in him for all the benefits of his passion To receive encrease of power to overcome the world and further testimonies of his love and stronger desires after the consummation of it in Heavenly bliss To unite our heart in Brotherly affection to all the faithful servants of Jesus and to rejoyce in the holy Communion of Christ and his Saints O blessed Jesus who can have hearts disposed to do all this without thee I come to thee therefore that thou wilt represent thy self most lively to me If I could have seen thee hanging on the Cross or if thou wouldest appear to me as thou didst to Saul if the Heavens were opened and I could behold thee as did St. Steven what strange passions what holy affections would it raise up in my heart Open thine eyes my Soul heartily and strongly believe and thy joy shall be full He will be in the midst of us when we are assembled together in his Name according as he promised He presents himself before us in these Signs of his Body and Bloud Behold how the Word was made flesh how he was Circumcised and fulfilled the Law under which he was born that he might be a pure and unspotted offering to God See how he was whipt and scourged for thy sake See how he suffered upon the Cross how his Body was broken and his heart-Bloud poured out to reconcile us unto God And then thou canst not but come with a thankful heart and with an humble reverent and devout affection present thy self unto him bitterly bewailing thy offences chearfully resigning thy self to his will and joyfully hoping for his mercy When he saith by his Minister Take eat drink this what is the meaning but as if he should say I am thy Salvation And when thou stretchest out thy hand and dost this what is it but to say My Lord and my God Joh. 20.28 And happy are they who not only call him Lord but do the things that he saith Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life Rev. 22.14.12.20 and enter into the City of God Behold he cometh and his reward is with him and he will give to every man according as his work shall be Rev. 21 7. And he that overcometh saith he shall inherit all things I will be his God and he shall be my Son Amen Even so come Lord Jesus And this short Prayer O Lord of heaven and earth who knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising Psal 139.2 3. c. and understandest my thoughts a far
off Who compassest my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my wayes ever since I was born There is not a word in my tongue Psa 19.12 but lo O Lord thou knowest it altogether Such knowledg is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain unto it Who can understand the errors of his whole life And with what trembling ought I to approach thee though I knew nothing by my self But alas my own heart condemns me and thou art greater than my heart and knowest all things I am ashamed to think that I lived so many years before I seriously thought of all my duty to thee And that since I have known thy will and devoted my self to thy service I have made such small improvement in wisdom and virtue Many years are passed and innumerable blessings in them have been received but alas the God in whose hand my breath is Dan. 5.23 and whose are all my wayes how little have I glorified I have reason to blush that now I have brought an heart before thee with so little sense of that love which I have so often remembered and praised and acknowledged with the largest expressions of devotion to thee But it is some comfort O Lord that thy all-searching eye which pierces to the bottom of my soul sees a sincere desire there to become better and a stedfast resolution to endeavour to grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ It is in my heart to renew my covenant with thee to ingage my fidelity once more to thee trusting that I have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly Heb. 13.18 I hope thou wilt graciously accept and encourage whatsoever thou beholdest of thy self in me and when I go to offer my self again most solemnly to thee at thy Altar make me feel thy divine presence with me enlightning my mind with a clear sense of thee raising in me worthy thoughts and affections towards my dear Saviour ingaging my will more firmly to thine confirming all my pious resolutions exciting my Faith love hope and joy that this holy Communion may be to the continuance of a holy life in greater care diligence zeal and fervency in all well doing Assist me I beseech thee in every part of this duty that I may remember the sufferings of the Lord Jesus so as to be crucified with him and his great love so as to love him with all my soul and my neighbour as my self and the new covenant he hath made in his blood so as to have his laws written on my heart and all the the pretious promises he hath thereby sealed to us so as to place my entire contentment and satisfaction in them till I come to possess that perfect happiness which I wait for through thy mercies in Christ Jesus Amen Our Father c. A short Meditation after WHat hast thou now received from our Lord Are they not the most sacred pledges of his love And what doth the Lord require of thee but only love But how great a thing is love Love brought him down hither to us and love will carry us up to God Love made him like to man and love is able to make thee like to God O the power of heavenly love How shall we get it planted in our heart How But by love The frequent meditation of this admirable love of God in his Son Jesus will not suffer us not to love him with all our heart and soul and strength Let us resolve then that the remembrance of his love shall lie perpetually in our heart As we have begun the year with the thoughts of his love so let us continue it What more welcome thought can there be to thee every morning when thou awakest than this I am the beloved of the King of Glory With what canst thou open thy soul more chearfully What will brighten it and chase away the darkness of melancholly sorrow sadness cares and fears like to this If thou hast not lost an hour and wasted this pretious time which thou hast spent at the Table of the Lord thou canst not but feel the mighty force of his infinite love Let us try my soul what it will be able to do in a whole years thoughts upon it Let the morning light bring Jesus ever along with it to thy mind and enkindle in thee a new devotion to him And let us take all occasions to celebrate his memory that so our holy resolutions may be more quickned and strengthned and when the flame begins to burn dimm we may blow it up again and add more fewel to it If a friend had left thee a token of his love whereby to keep him in mind wouldst thou throw it into some blind corner and never look upon it But suppose he was a dying friend nay a friend that dyed for thee to save thee from death could he ever go out of thy mind or wouldst thou let the thing he left to remember him by be long out of thine eye Let us not deal more unkindly with our Saviour Did he think when he went to heaven that those whom he hath so obliged would remember his love so seldom and so coldly That they need be so much entreated to come and have communion with him Is it not a grief to him now if he be capable of any to see that he hath so few lovers And that they who profess love to him testifie it so rarely and in so poor a manner Let us vow my soul again that we will henceforth shew our selves his hearty friends by keeping his holy Commands and never forget that this is one Do this in remembrance of me I will remember thee O Lord and in this manner lift up my hands in thy name till I have finished my dayes and come to see thee as thou art in all thy Majesty and Glory And this Thanksgiving and Prayer may be added afterward O Lord I thine unworthy servant whom thou art pleased to call thy child most devoutly humble my self before thee in new adorations of that love which I can never fully understand The highest of our praises is most heartily to acknowledge that thou art exalted above all blessing and praise And our most grateful acknowledgments to be very sensible of the weakness of our love when it is advanced to its greatest and strongest pitch Thy love is like to thy self and we cannot search it out to perfection It is higher than the Heavens Job 11. what can we do It is broader than the Sea what can we know I have enjoyed many years of mercies and thou hast been loading me with a multitude of inestimable benefits both for Soul and Body ever since I came into this world Every day brings me fresh tokens of thy goodness and this day the dearest of all the tokens of thine everlasting love Psal 139. O how precious are thy thoughts towards us how great is the summe
pity us because thou art he who was dead And thou wilt never cease to pity and help us because thou art he that liveth â—â—m 6.9 and being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over thee Because thou wast dead and tempted in all things like unto us thou art sensible of our infirmities and able to succour us in all the trials of life and death And because thou livest thou canst make thy death become powerful and effectual to us thou canst make good all thy own promises and put us in possession of the purchased inheritance 1 Pet. 1.3 Blessed be God which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto such a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave 1 Cor. 15.54 55. where is thy victory Thanks be to God who hath not appointed us to wrath 1 Thess 5.9 10. but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who dyed for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live with him Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus 2 Cor. 4.14 Jude 24. and shall present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy The Prayer before O Most mighty Lord of heaven and earth the Father of Spirits the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whose name is ever hallowed by an innumerable company of Holy ones that are always burning with love to thee and praising thy most beauteous perfections thy incomprehensible wisdom goodness righteousness and truth The Sun shineth not before the brightness of thy Majesty The Angels are unclean in compare with the purity of thy holiness What are we O Lord that thou wilt look down from the habitation of thy holiness upon us what manner of love is this wherewith thou hast loved us in sending thy Son down among us and designing to take us up unto thy self that we may joyn with that holy fellowship of Angels and Saints to love and praise thee for ever We are the off-spring of rebellious parents that have been transgressors from the beginning Who have dishonoured our nature despised or undervalued thy grace in the Lord Jesus resisted or coldly entertained thy holy Spirit and loved these little things here below more than that eternal happiness which Jesus hath revealed by his resurrection from the dead We are not worthy of the crumbs that fall from thy Table which thou hast spread for all creatures or of the least drop of thy mercies We are not worthy to lick the dust before thee because we deserve not to live and breath any longer in this world And yet thou lettest us live in hope that we shall live with thee and thou givest us leave to breath forth our souls towards thee and hast thy self spread a new Table for us and furnished it with the richest of thy blessings and invitest me most graciously among the rest to come now and feast with thee and eat of the bread of life which came down from heaven and is able to nourish me to eternal life I would fain O Lord approach into thy holy presence there and behold the wonders of thy love But I am covered with shame and blushing because of my ingratitude unto thee I cannot with any confidence open my eyes towards thee till I have some sense in my heart that thou art willing to cover my sins and hide thy face from mine iniquities Which I cannot reasonably hope for till I find them loathsome grievous and hateful to me more than death it self I ought to hang down my head in heaviness of spirit till a sense that my heart is throughly changed and renewed give me liberty to look up unto thee saying Thy will O Lord be done Possess thy self of my soul for I absolutely submit my thoughts desires and passions to be ruled and governed by thee in all things And what is it else O my God that I long for What doth my soul thirst after But that I may know thee more Ephes 1.19 20. and the greatness of thy power to us ward which wrought in Christ when it raised him from the dead and set him at thy right hand in heavenly places and that I may be overcome and perfectly subdued by this mighty love and that I may be transformed into thy image and live according to the sense I have of thy most adorable perfections O that I may wholly follow the guidance of thy wisdom and submit to thy soveraign Authority and be obedient to all thy righteous and good laws reverencing and fearing thy majesty approving my inward thoughts and desires to thine all-seeing eye depending on thy al-sufficiency hoping in thy omnipotent goodness trusting to thy true and faithful word delighting and rejoycing continually in thy Fatherly love and care of me who hast brought me into being and preserved me from ruin Eph. 3.6 and made me partaker of thy promise in Christ the beginning and first born from the dead in whom it pleased thee that all fulness should dwell Col. 1.18 19. I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord that I may be found in him and have the righteousness which is by Faith Ph l. 3.8 9 10. that I may know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection of the dead Begin now good Lord to raise up my heart above all these perishing things to those joyes where thou art exalted Make me feel that thou art an high Priest after the power of an endless life still ready and able to assist and succour all those that come to God by thee O that my eyes might be so fixed on the high and holy place into which thou art entred that some little glimps of thy glory may breakforth upon me and I may see the treasures and riches of thy kingdom and what is the hope of my calling that so I may be confirmed in my resolutions grow strong in the Faith and be more fervent in my desires more vehement and earnest in my endeavours unwearied in my pains impregnable against all temptations chearful under all difficulties and discouragements Phil. 3.13 14. and that forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I may press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Into thy hands both now and ever Psal â—â— 5 I commit my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth I confide entirely in his Almighty and eternal love to whom thou hast given all power in heaven and in earth Matth. 28.18 I wait on thee who hast not thought thy immortality too much to bestow on us for
hands the Earth stands fast by thy appointment and every thing keeps the course wherein thou hast set it with admirable constancy Thou governest all things without any trouble because at once thou knowest and canst do what thou pleasest and thou dost all things with the greatest reason justice mercy and pleasure to thy self Man was raised by thee out of the dust of Earth and thou didst inspire him with a wise and understanding Spirit and placedst him in a Paradise surrounded with thy blessings and Lord over the work of thy hands And when he had degraded himself and forfeited by his disobedience his garden of pleasure thou didst not leave him without a remedy but openedst the way for him into the Paradise above Thou didst send thy holy Prophets and messengers in all ages to thy people and in the fulness of time thine own dear Son the brightness of thy glory whom thou hast made Heir of all things and to whom thou hast graciously committed the care of us Blessed be thy unspeakable goodness who hast made him in all things like unto us sin only excepted so that we know and are sure that he will take care of us and pity us and relieve us I adore thy unparalell'd love in giving him to die that he might make expiation for our sins and that he hath overcome death by his rising again and is set down at thy right hand because he was obedient to the death From thence we have received the gift of the Holy Ghost thanks be to thy Grace to confirm us in the belief of his Resurrection and of all his promises by signs and wonders and mighty deeds and to give us power to perform our duty towards thee and towards all men Thou hast spread this Gospel of Salvation into the furthermost parts of the Earth and the light of it hath long shone upon this Kingdom where I live I was born into this light as well as into the light of the Sun and had early assurances given me of thy love In my very infancy I was devoted to thee and all the engagements I was capable of laid upon me to be happy by being a faithful Disciple of Christ Jesus Thou hast not failed since to breath on me by thy Holy Spirit and to move me to my duty that I might be able to make the answer of a good Conscience towards thee 1 Pet. 3 21. and so be saved by his his Resurrection from the dead Many happy opportunities hast thou put into my hands to improve my self in Christian wisdom and vertue and engaged me to thee in many solemn vows only to seek the glory honour and immortality which Christ hath brought to light by patient continuance in well-doing I have now received the pledges of it and commemorated his love in dying for us and thy love in raising him to life again that he might perfect our Salvation and assure us he hath obtained an eternal redemption and comfort us against the fears of death and take care of us for ever and receive the power and glory thou promisedst him that he may be able to bless us and do us all good O how hath thy love abounded in Christ Jesus Besides a world of outward blessings which thy bounteous hand hath poured on me and still continues merely out of thy goodness and liberality How can I praise thee for all thy mercies to all mankind who cannot comprehend all those which thou hast bestowed on my self alone None can understand how much we are beholden to thee but those that know what thy Son Jesus was and what the blessing of the Holy Ghost and what the Resurrection of the dead and the unsearchable riches of thy Kingdom and Glory are Accept blessed Lord of such acknowledgments as I am able to make thee Accept of my whole self which I yield up unto thee with love unfeigned Thou whose infinite understanding pierceth into the greatest depths and secrets knowest that I love thee Do even what thou pleasest with me for it is but just and reasonable that I should not live unto my self henceforth but unto him that died for me and rose again I am twice thy Creature Thou hast given me life a second time by Christ Jesus through whom thou hast created me to good works in hope of a blessed Resurrection from the dead Inspire me good Lord with such a strong and lasting sense of thy love that I may alway live in sincere obedience to him and never forfeit the new title thou hast given me to life immortal But believing the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead I may most heartily acknowledg him to be the Lord and stedfastly believe his Doctrine obeying his commands hoping in his promises and fearing his threatnings and endeavouring thereby to prepare my self in all purity and holiness of life for the joys of the World to come And * The words of the Church Catechism explaining the Lords Prayer I desire my Lord God our Heavenly Father who is the giver of all goodness to send his grace unto me and to all people that we may worship him serve him and obey him as we ought to do And that he will send us all things that be needful both for our Souls and Bodies and be merciful to us and forgive us our sins and that it will please him to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily and that he will keep us from all sin and wickedness and from our ghostly enemy and from everlasting death Which I trust he will do of his mercy and goodness through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Now the God of peace Heb 13.20 21. that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Bloud of the everlasting Covenant Make us perfect in every good work to do his will working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen This short acknowledgment may be used sometime that Week Acts 4.24 25. LOrd thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said Psal 2.7 8. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy possession Thy word is true from the beginning Psal 119.160.89.90 For ever O Lord thy word is setled in Heaven Thy faithfulness is unto all generations For thou hast sent thy holy Child Jesus Rom. 1.4 and declared him to be the Son of God with power by the Resurrection from the dead Though he was Crucified through weakness 2 Cor. 13.4 yet he liveth by the power of God Thou wouldest not let thy holy one see corruption Acts 2.27 28. But hast made known to him the ways of life and made him full of joy with thy
countenance Thou hast given him power over all flesh Joh. 17.2 that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him Adored be thine Eternal love which appeared in the sufferings of Christ and the glory that followed after Adored be thy love 1 Pet. 1.3.11 2 Tim. 1.10 1 Cor. 15.20 Joh. 11.25 which hath given us a lively hope through the Resurrection of Christ Jesus who hath brought life and immortality to light being the First-fruits of them that slept and the Resurrection and the Life I rejoyce in the consolation which thou has sent unto us and that we in this furthermost part of the Earth are become his inheritance I praise thee I bless thee I most heartily devote my self to the obedience of Jesus as is but just and meet For to this end Christ hath died Rom. 14.8 9. and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living I reverence his Soveraign authority I submit my self to his Laws and depend upon his care and good providence I refer my self to his wise will and pleasure in all things desiring nothing more but that whether I live or die I may be the Lords O that thy Spirit which raised up Jesus may dwell in me guide and govern me Rom. 8.11 that thou who raisedst up Christ from the dead mayest also quicken my mortal body by thy Spirit dwelling in me O that the rest of the World may become his possession too and all with one mind and one mouth glorifie thee the God and Father of Jesus Christ Who is the faithful witness and the first-begotten of the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Rev. 1.5 6 to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen Ascension-day or Sunday The Meditation before AH how duskish are my thoughts in house of Clay How dull my affections under this load of flesh My Saviour is in Heaven crowned at Gods right hand with glory and honour Heb. 2.9 Ephes 4.10 1 Pet. 3.22 He is ascended up far above all Heavens Angels Authorities and Powers being made subject to him And I can scarce cast a look thither but am instantly pulled down to this Earth again Blessed be his goodness who hath left us a lively Image of himself to help our infirmities To represent his dying and departure from this World and to be a pledge likewise unto us that we shall one day ascend up to Heaven and be for ever with the Lord. O blessed news 1 Thess 4. ult the hope of it fills me with joy already and raises me up a little toward that high and holy place where Jesus dwells I will go and bless the Father of mercies for his great charity towards us that he would accept of an offering for sin and that he would be satisfied without demanding of us the debt That he would grant new and easie conditions of Salvation for us through the Bloud of his Son and seal a gracious Covenant in that same precious Bloud I will go and testifie my love to him even by my joy that he is gone unto the Father Joh. 14.28 and hath triumphed over his enemies Coloss 2.15 after he had overcome them and spoiled Principalities and Powers Ephes 4.8 He hath led captivity captive Acts 2.33 and received the promise of the Holy Ghost and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God Heb. 12.2 and made the Lord of all All the Angels of God worship him Acts 10.36 and in the Heavenly Sanctuary attend upon him where he is an High-Priest for ever Heb. 1.6.8.2 holy undefiled separate from sinners and made higher than the Heavens 〈◊〉 6.10.13 There he makes intercession for us from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his foot-stool And we have boldness also by the Bloud of Jesus 10.19 6.20 Joh. 14.2 3. to enter into the holiest whither he the fore-runner is for us entred and gone to prepare a place for us and will come again to receive us unto himself that where he is there we may be also Psal 24.3 ◠5. But who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord And who shall stand in his holy place He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his Soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his Salvation I will go then and offer him my heart that it may be formed to his likeness Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth I will go and submit my self to him as the Lord of all and renew my Covenant of love and friendship with him I will vow again that I will fight valiantly under his banner who is the Captain of our Salvation Heb. 2.10 made perfect through sufferings against sin the world and the Devil I will be faithful to him unto the death and no suffering shall deter me from following the Prince of life For I doubt not but the Sacrifice he made was most acceptable to God and that he by himself having purged our sins Heb. 1.3 H b. 2.13 sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high and will help and succour all his faithful followers 1.14.2.10 and send forth his Angels to minister unto them and bring them to glory Rev. 2.10 and reward them with a crown of life O lift up thy self my Soul when thou comest to the Table of the Lord. Now if ever listen to the Priest of God when he calls saying Lift up your hearts Now is the season above all others to answer with the whole Quire of pious Souls in that joyful voice We lift them up unto the Lord. Rear thy self aloft my Soul and look beyond these shadows Fix thine eyes on the splendor of that Majesty wherewith thy Saviour shines and think thou hearest him calling unto the whole company of believers saying Come come my beloved for whom I died Come and dwell with me It is still my will and desire that you may be where I am and that you may behold the glory Joh. 17.24 which my Father hath given me Come on therefore Whither I am gone you know 14.4 and the way you know Tread upon all the glittering temptations of the Countrey where you are as dirt and dung in compare with the Kingdom which I will give you Make haste unto me and let nothing hinder you for I expect you and long when you are meet for it to see you The travel of my Soul will not be satisfied till you be with me O my Soul why do we linger Why do we look after any thing so much as his Eternal life Why should we be discouraged or faint in our minds This Lord of glory came to his Throne out of as low a condition as we can possibly be in He was once a servant the
right hand Search and try dost thou in good earnest travel with high and heavenly designs Art thou ambitious of nothing so much as to be like to Jesus and by the most self denying wayes to obtain his glory Dost thou spare no pains to flatten thy too eager desires towards the things on earth to let out thy vain and aiery conceits to sharpen thy appetite after real righteousness to inflame thy love to heighten thy desire and hope to strengthen thy faith to excite thy watchfulness and ingage thy serious endeavours that thou mayest possess the things above Art thou sure taht the wisdom from above is the crown of thy glory Jam. 2.17 Humility thy honour To do good thy riches and treasure to be Religious thy business and to rejoyce in God thy highest pleasure Doth the peace of God which passeth all understanding keep thy mind and heart Pâ— 4.7 Art thou above the threats the contempt the hatred the oppression the enmities and affronts of this evil world Above thine own and other mens passions and peevish affections So that thou returnest good for evil kindness for injuries and prayers for curses Is that sweet thing that heavenly love to all thy Brethren the darling of thy bosome which is the very joy of Heaven Then the Angels give thee joy of an happy resurrection and ascension with Christ Jesus He hath made thee already to fit with him in heavenly places Eph. 2.6 The day star is risen in thy heart foretelling thy approaching glory Thou beholdest the morning of eternal joy the dawning of the day of recompences And thou mayest rest assured that God will not leave thee in the grave nor suffer thee for ever to see corruption but it shall deliver thee into the arms of thy Lord 1 Cor. 15.53 2 Cor. 5.4 and corruption shall put on incorruption and this mortality be swallowed up of life Nay thou mayst now triumph and say I am an heir an heir of God Rom. 8.17 and joynt-heir with Christ who hath also given me the earnest of the inheritance Eph. â— 14 For he hath formed already a model of the heavenly Sanctuary within thy breast where Christ Jesus himself is enthroned and the name of God is continually honoured and glorified And therefore thou mayst humbly conclude in the words of Jesus Joh. 12.32 If God be glorified in me God shall also glorifie me in himself And O that the Father of glory would be pleased more and more to enlighten the eyes of our understanding Ephes 1.17 18 19 20. that we may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in Heavenly places c. Amen The Thanksgiving and Prayer afterward O Most Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty who art to be most humbly adored worshipped and admired but thy perfections no tongue can express and thou art above the thoughts of the highest and purest of all Creatures They all give glory to thee in their several kinds and declare thy power thy greatness thy wisdom and goodness which spreads it self throughout the world Psal 113.3 4. From the rising of the Sun unto the going down of the same the Lords name is to be praised For the Lord is high above all Nations and his glory above the Heavens They sound continually with the praises which the holy Angels give thee who know thee better than we that are shut up in houses of clay and can see but little of thy glory And yet thou art pleased not only to admit but to invite us to lift up our hearts unto thee and unite them with that Heavenly company in rendring thee our poor praises and thanks which are infinitely below thee Accept Good Lord of such as I have to give and inspire me graciously from above with such a sense of thy goodness that I may offer thee an heart full of love which may be ever making grateful acknowledgments unto thee I bless thee that thou hast made man such a noble Creature capable to look back to thee the Author of his being and to be happy in loving thee and bearing a likeness to thee O how great was thy goodness that when he forgot thee that formed him and lightly esteemed thy love and favour thou wouldest not call him out of thy care but mercifully and speedily madest a promise of a Redeemer to him I thank thee O God that in the fulness of time thou hast sent him thy only begotten Son into the world not only to converse lovingly with us as our Friend and Brother but also to die for us and to die the accursed death of the Cross Who can understand the greatness of thy love O blessed Jesus that would hang in such shame and pain and bleed to death and lie in the Grave for us wretched sinners And the greatness of thy love O Father of mercies who hast raised him again from the dead and exalted him with thy right hand to the Throne of Glory in the Heavens and given him a name above every name Phil. 2.9 10 11. that at the name of Jesus every knee might bow both of things in Heaven and things on Earth and things under the Earth and that every tongue might confess that Jesus is the Lord to thy glory I confess his Sovereign power and authority whom the Angels worshipped and adored and I give glory to thee O Father of all who hast made him head of the Church Ephes 1.22 23. which is his Body the fulness of him that filleth all in all Glory be to thee O Lord most high who hast put all things under his feet and made Angels themselves to be ministring Spirits Heb. 1.14 sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation Glory be to thee Acts 3.26 who hast sent him to bless us in turning every one of from our iniquities 5.32 and hast made him a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins and made him able to save them to the uttermost that come unto thee by him Heb 7.25 27. seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them To thy eternal praise and glory be it remembred that we have such an High-Priest Heb. 8.1 who is set on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens who needeth not daily to offer up Sacrifice but hath done it once when he offered up himself I bless thee that thou hast now admitted me to partake of that Sacrifice which is able to perfect for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 And that to the blessings of thy house thou hast added also those of my own Thou feedest not my
from thy Ministers and the tender care * You may mention these and others if you have had this benefit religious education of my Parents Tutors and Governours For all seasonable reproofs wholsom counsels good admonitions and every truth I have received from my Friends or Enemies For the pious examples and good conversation of any of my Neighbours for all holy opportunities and the leisure I have to attend upon this heavenly employment For thy merciful chastisements and thy wonderful deliverances For all the good Books thou hast brought to my hands and the good advice which I have any way received For all my Benefactors all those that love me and pray for me And above all for thy gracious inspirations from above the holy thoughts thou hast put into my mind and the pious desires and purposes thou hast stirr'd up in my heart with all the furtherances helps and assistances thou hast vouchsafed me in my way to Heaven particularly now at this holy Feast where thou hast made me know and feel how good thou art beyond the compass of all our thoughts What shall I return unto thee for all thy love What shall I give unto my Lord who hath given himself for me I have given thee my whole self and now devoted all the powers of my soul and body to thy service that all my thoughts my words my desires my passions and actions may be disposed according to thy will and not my own And I think my self happy O blessed Jesus in the choice I have made of thee for my Lord and Master I rejoyce in the disposal I have made of my self to thy service and obedience For a world I would not revoke my consent to be absolutely ruled and governed by thee as long as I live Sin shall not reign in my mortal body Rom. 6.12 that I should obey it in the lusts thereof But here I come again to yield my self unto thee my God and to profess thy service to be the most perfect freedom and the noblest employment To beseech thy pardon for all mine unfaithfulness and the constant power of thy Holy Spirit to assist me in the doing thy will here on Earth as it is done in Heaven that all my resolutions may be persevering my endeavours successful and my obedience perfect and compleat in all things Lord Jesus do what thou pleasest in me and what thou pleasest with me Truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and I will make my boast continually in this that I serve the Lord Christ May I but ever love thee and stedfastly cleave unto thee and chearfully obey thee and faithfully live to honour thee I desire nothing else Come prosperity or adversity come sickness or health life or death so that I may but glorifie thee and be made conformable to thee and bear thine image in holiness here and in glory hereafter And let all the Earth stand in awe of thee thou Lord and Ruler of the whole world Let the hearts of all people submit themselves to thy Kingdom and Authority Psal 45.3 4. In thy Majesty ride on prosperously O thou most mighty because of truth and meekness and righteousness till all thine enemies fall under thee and think themselves happy in thy most just and merciful government I commend thine own family to thy gracious and powerful protection and this part of it especially in these Kingdoms That we thy servants being hurt by no persecutions may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church and triumph in thy praise saying Psal 48.14 This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto Death Now unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Bloud and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father Rev. 1.5 6 to him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen September The Meditation before the Sacrament SHall we not be too bold in going so oft to the Table of the Lord May we not offend him by our forwardness to approach into his presence No sure not if love carry us thither and accompany us there And who can want that who knows and considers how forward he was to do that which we remember When he came to offer himself a Sacrifice for us he saith Lo I come Psal 40.7 8. in the volume of the book it is written of me I delight to do thy will O God And when he eat the last meal with his Disciples he said again Luk. 22.15 with desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer Behold what a hearty vehemence there was in his love what an ardor in his desire to be made an offering for us and to be remembred by us With what love should we commemorate his dying love with what desire should our souls approach to his holy Table in remembrance of him who took such content in dying for us and was so desirous to institute this holy feast for a perpetual remembrance of his death With the same joy that children use to welcome a Festival with such an hunger and thirst as a labouring man goes to his supper ought we to go to the Supper of the Lord that we may chear and refresh our souls with the memory of our Master and only Saviour with praises and joyful thanksgivings with the love of God and of our Brethren with the hopes of his Mercy here and eternally Awake awake then thy Faith call up thy love quicken thy desires excite all that is within thee to bless the Lord and speak good of his name Say with a great joy Lo I come according to thy command and delight to do thy will O God With desire I have desired to do this in remembrance of my Lord to declare thy mighty acts and shew forth the greatness of thy love to profess my self thy servant and to glory in the holy name of my Master Jesus to offer up my self unto thee an oblation of love to renew my covenant with thee and with all my Brethren to give thee thanks that I am one of thy family and for all the benefits I received and thou hast still in store for thy faithful servants But who is able to tell how much he hath done already for us Or find out all that he designs unto us Who can praise him according to his excellent kindness and his wonderful works for the children of men The thoughts of Angels are not wide enough to comprehend them And if we had their spirits and could love him and acknowledg him with their inlarged affection it would be too little a present to make unto him O give thanks therefore unto the Lord for he is gracious for his mercy endureth for ever O give thanks unto him who is so desirous of us such narrow souls such little hearts that can hold so little love unto him Let us go to him and desire that he would