Of Christian Religion — Repentance and the Holy Sacrament
Section IX — Of Repentance.
REPENTANCE, of all things in the world, makes the greatest change: it changes things in heaven and earth; for it changes the whole man from sin to grace, from vicious habits to holy customs, from unchaste bodies to angelical souls, from swine to philosophers, from drunkenness to sober counsels: and God himself, " with whom is no variableness or shadow of change," is pleased, by descending to our weak understandings, to say that he changes also upon man's repentance, that he alters his decrees, revokes his sentence, cancels the bills of accusation, throws the records of shame and sorrow from the court of heaven, and lifts up the sinner from the grave to life, from his
prison to a throne, from hell and the guilt of eternal torture to heaven, and to a title to never-ceasing felicities. If we be bound on earth, we shall be bound in heaven; if we be ab solved here, we shall be loosed there; if we repent, God will repent, and not send the evil upon us which we had deserved. But repentance is a conjugation and society of many duties; and it contains in it all the parts of a holy life, from the time of our return to the day of our death inclusively; and it has in it some things specially relating to the sins of our former days, which are now to be abolished by special arts, and have obliged us to special labors, and brought in many new necessities, and put us into a very great deal of danger. And because it is a duty consisting of so many parts and so much employment, it also requires much time, and leaves a man in the same degree of hope of pardon, as is his restitution to the state of righteousness and holy living, for which we covenanted in baptism. For we must know, that there is but one repentance in a man's whole life, if repentance be taken in the proper and strict evangelical covenant sense, and not after the ordinary understanding of the word: that is, we are but once to change our whole state of life, from the power of the devil and his entire possession, from the state of sin and death, from the body of corruption, to the life of grace, to the possession of Jesus, to the kingdom of the gospel: and this is done in the baptism of water, or in the baptism of the Spirit, when the first rite comes to be verified by God's grace coming upon us, and by our obedience to the heavenly calling, we working together with God. After this change, if ever we fall into the contrary state, and be wholly estranged from God and religion, and profess ourselves servants of unrighteousness, God has made no more covenant of restitution to us; there is no place left for any more repentance, or entire change of condition, or new birth; a man can be regenerated but once: and such are voluntary malicious apostates, witches, obstinate impenitent persons, and the like. But if AVC be overtaken by infirmity, or enter into the marches or borders of this estate, and commit a grievous sin, or ten, or twenty, so we be not in the entire possession of the devil, we are, for the present, in a damnable condition if we die; but if we live, we are in a recoverable condition; for so we may repent often. We repent or rise from death but once, but from sickness many
times; and by the grace of God we shall be pardoned if so we repent. But our hopes of pardon are just as is the repentance; which, if it be timely, hearty, industrious, and effective, God accepts; not by weighing grains or scruples, but by estimating the great proportions of our life. A hearty endeavor and an effectual general change shall get the pardon; the unavoidable infirmities, and past evils, and present imperfections, and short interruptions, against which we watch, and pray, and strive, being put upon the accounts of the cross, and paid for by the holy Jesus. This is the state and condition of repentance; its parts and actions must be valued according to the following rules: —
Acts and Parts of Repentance.
1. He that repents truly is greatly sorrowful for his past sins: not with a superficial sigh or tear, but a pungent af flictive sorrow; such a sorrow as hates the sin so much, that the man would choose to die rather than act it any more. This sorrow is called in Scripture "a weeping sorely; a weeping with bitterness of heart; a weeping day and night; a sorrow of heart; a breaking of the spirit; mourning like a dove, and chattering like a swallow;" l and we may read the degree and man ner of it by the lamentations and sad accents of the prophet Jeremy, when he wept for the sins of the nation; by the heart-breaking of David, when he mourned for his murder and adultery; and the bitter weeping of St. Peter, after the shameful denying of his Master. The expression of this sor row differs according to the temper of the body, the sex, the age, and circumstance of action, and the motive of sorrow, and by many accidental tendernesses, or masculine hardnesses; and the repentance is not to be estimated by the tears, but by the grief; and the grief is to be valued not by the sensitive trouble, but by the cordial hatred of the sin, and ready actual de reliction of it, and a resolution and real resisting its consequent temptations. Some people can shed tears for nothing, some for any thing; but the proper and true effects of a godly sorrow are, fear of the Divine judgments, apprehension of God's displeasure, watchings and strivings against sin, patiently enduring the cross of sorrow, (which God sends as their punishment,) in accusation of ourselves, in perpetually
begging pardon, in mean and base opinions of ourselves, and inCall the natural productions from these, according to our temper and constitution. For if we be apt to weep in other accidents, it is ill if we weep not also in the sorrows of repentance; not that weeping is of itself a duty, but that the sorrow, if it be as great, will be still expressed in as great a manner.
2. Our sorrow for sins must retain the proportion of our sins, though not the equality. We have no particular measures of sins; we know not which is greater, of sacrilege or superstition, idolatry or covetousness, rebellion or witchcraft; and therefore God ties us not to nice measures of sorrow, but only that we keep the general rules of proportion; that is, that a great sin have a great grief, a smaller crime being to be washed off with a lesser shower.
3. Our sorrow for sins is then best accounted of for its degree, when it, together with all the penal and afflictive duties of repentance, shall have equalled or exceeded the pleasure we had in commission of the sin.2
4. True repentance is a punishing duty, and acts its sor row; and judges and condemns the sin by voluntary submit ting to such sadnesses as God sends on us, or (to prevent the judgment of God) by judging ourselves, and punishing our bodies and our spirits by such instruments of piety as are troublesome to the body: such as are fasting, watching, long prayers, troublesome postures in our prayers, expensive alms, and all outward acts of humiliation. For he that must judge himself must condemn himself if he be guilty; and if he be condemned, he must be punished; and if he be so judged, it will help to prevent the judgment of the Lord, St. Paul instructing us in this particular.3 But I before intimated that the punishing actions of repentance are only actions of sorrow, and therefore are to make up the proportions of it. For our grief may be so full of trouble as to outweigh all the burdens of fasts and bodily afflictions, and then the other are the less necessary; and when they are used, the benefit of them is to obtain of God a remission or a lessening of such temporal judgments which God has decreed against the sins, as it was in the case of Ahab; but the sinner is not, by any thing of this, reconciled to the eternal favor of God; for, as yet, this is but the introduction to repentance.
5. Every true penitent is obliged to confess his sins, and to humble himself before God for ever. Confession of sins has a special promise: " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins;"4 meaning that God has bound himself to forgive us if we duly confess our sins, and do all that for which confession was appointed; that is, be ashamed of them, and own them no more. For confession of our sins to God can signify nothing of itself in its direct nature: he sees us when we act them, and keeps a record of them; and we forget them, unless he reminds us of them by his grace. So " that to confess them to God does not punish us or make us ashamed: but confession to him, if it proceeds from shame and sorrow, and is an act of humility and self-condemnation," and is a laying open our wounds for cure, then it is a duty God delights in. In all which circumstances, because we may very much be helped if we take in the assistance of a spiritual guide, therefore the church of God, in all ages, has commended, and, in most ages, enjoined, that we confess our sins,5 and discover the state and condition of our souls to such a person, whom we or our superiors j udge fit to help us in such needs. For so, " if we confess our sins one to another," as St. James advises, we shall obtain the prayers of the holy man whom God and the church have appointed solemnly to pray for us; and when he knows our needs, he can best minister comfort or reproof, oil or caustics; he can more opportunely recommend your particular state to God; he can determine your cases of conscience, and judge better for you than you do for yourself; and the shame of opening such ulcers may restrain your forwardness to contract them; and all these circumstances of advantage will do very much towards the forgiveness. And this course was taken by the new converts in the days of the apostles: " For many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds." 6 And it were well if this duty were practiced prudently and innocently, in order to public discipline, or private comfort and instruction; but that it be done to God is a duty, not directly for itself, but for its adjuncts and the duties that go with it, or before it, or after it: which duties, because they are all to be helped and guided
by our pastors and curates of souls', he is careful of his eternal interest, that will not lose the advantage of using a private guide and judge. " He that hides his sins shall not prosper;" Non dirigetur, says the vulgar Latin, "he shall want a guide:" " but who confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy."7 And to this purpose Climacus reports, that divers holy persons in that age did use to carry table-books with them, and in them described an account of all their determin ate thoughts, purposes, words, and actions, in which they had suffered infirmity; that by communicating the estate of their souls, they might be instructed and guided, or corrected or encouraged.
6. True repentance must reduce to act all its holy purposes, and enter into and run through the state of holy living,8 which is contrary to that state of darkness in which in times past we walked.9 For to resolve to do it, and yet not to do it, is to break our resolution and our faith, to mock God, to falsify and evacuate all the preceding acts of repentance, and to make our pardon hopeless, and our hope fruitless. He that resolves to live well when a danger is upon him, or a violent fear, or when the appetites of lust are newly satisfied, or newly served, and yet when the temptation comes again, sins again, and then is sorrowful, and resolves once more against it, and yet falls when the temptation returns, is a vain man, but no true penitent, nor in the state of grace; and if he chance to die in one of these good moods, is very far from salvation; for if it be necessary that we resolve to live well, it is necessary we should do so. For resolution is an imperfect act, a term of relation, and signifies nothing but in order to the actions; it is as a faculty is to the act, as spring is to the harvest, as eggs are to birds, as a relative to its correspondent, nothing with out it. No man, therefore, can be in the state of grace and actual favor by resolutions and holy purposes; these are but the gate and portal towards pardon: a holy life is the only perfection of repentance, and the firm ground upon which we can cast the anchor of hope in the mercies of God, through Jesus Christ.
vult, nisi qui bene facit. — Trinummus, act. ii. seen. iii. 38.
7. No man is to reckon his pardon immediately upon his returns from sin to the beginnings of good life, but is to be gin his hopes and degrees of confidence according as sin dies in him, and grace lives; as the habits of sin lessen, and righteousness grows; according as sin returns but seldom in smaller instances and without choice, and by surprise without deliberation, and is highly disrelished, and presently dashed against the rock Christ Jesus, by a holy sorrow and renewed care, and more strict watchfulness. For a holy life being the condition of the covenant on our part, as we return to God, so God returns to us, and our state returns to the probabilities of pardon.
8. Every man is to work out his salvation with fear and trembling; and after the commission of sins his fears must multiply; because every new sin and every great declining from the ways of God is still a degree of new danger, and has increased God's anger, and has made him more uneasy to grant pardon: and when he does grant it, it is upon harder terms both for doing and suffering: that is, we must do more for pardon; and, it may be, suffer much more. For we must know that God pardons our sins by parts; as our duty increases, and our care is more prudent and active, so God's anger decreases: and yet, it may be, the last sin you commit ted made God unalterably resolve to send upon you some sad judgment. Of the particulars in all cases we are uncertain; and therefore we have reason always to mourn for our sins that have so provoked God, and made our condition so full of danger that, it may be, no prayers, or tears, or duty, can alter his sentence concerning some sad judgment upon us. Thus God irrevocably decreed to punish the Israelites for idolatry, although Moses prayed for them, and God forgave them in some degree; that is, so that he would not cut them off from being a people; yet he would not forgive them so, but he would visit that their sin upon them; and he did so.
9. A true penitent must, all the days of his life,10 pray for pardon, and never think the work completed till he dies; not by any act of his own, by no act of the church, by no forgiveness by the party injured, by no restitution. These are all instruments of great use and efficacy, and the means by which it is to be done at length; but still th,e sin lies at the door,
ready to return upon us in judgment and damnation, if we return to it in choice or action. And whether God has for given us or no, we know not,11 and how far we know not; and all that we have done, is not of sufficient worth to obtain pardon: therefore still pray, and still be sorrowful for ever having done it, and for ever watch against it; and then those beginnings of pardon, which are working all the way, will at last be perfected in the day of the Lord.
10. Defer not at all to repent; much less may you put it off to your death-bed. It is not an easy thing to root out the habits of sin 12 which a man's whole life has gathered and confirmed. We find work enough to mortify one beloved lust, in our very best advantage of strength and time, and before it is so deeply rooted, as it must needs be supposed to be at the end of a wicked life: and, therefore, it will prove im possible, when the work is so great and the strength so little, when sin is so strong and grace so weak: for they always keep the same proportion of increase and decrease, and as sin grows grace decays: so that the more need we have of grace, the less at that time we shall have; because the greatness of our sins, which makes the need, has lessened the grace of God, which should help us, into nothing. To which add this consideration; that on a man's death-bed the day of repentance is past; for repentance being the renewing of a holy life, a living the life of grace, it is a contradiction to say that a man can live a holy life upon his death-bed; especially if we consider, that for a sinner to live a holy life must first sup pose him to have overcome all his evil habits, and then to have made a purchase of the contrary graces, by the labors of great prudence, watchfulness, self-denial, and severity.13 "Nothing that is excellent can be worked suddenly." 14
1 1. After the beginnings of your recovery, be infinitely fearful of a relapse; and therefore, upon the stock of your sad experience, observe where your failings were, and by especial arts fortify that faculty, and arm against that temptation. For if all those arguments which God uses to us to preserve our innocence, and your late danger, and your fears, and the goodness
of God making you once to escape, and the shame of your fall, and the sense of your own weaknesses, will not make you watchful against a fall, especially knowing how much it costs a man to be restored, it will be infinitely more dangerous if ever you fall again; not only for fear God should no more accept you to pardon, but even your own hopes will be made more desperate, and your impatience greater, and your shame turn to impudence, and your own will be more estranged, violent, and refractory, and your latter end will be worse than your beginning. To which add this consideration: that your sin, which was formerly in a good way of being pardoned, will not only return upon you with all its own loads, but with the baseness of unthankfulness, and you will be set as far back from heaven as ever; and all your former labors, and fears, and watchings, and agonies, will be reckoned for nothing, but as arguments to upbraid your folly, who, when you had set one foot in heaven, did pull that back, and carry both to hell.
Motives to Repentance.
I shall use no other arguments to move a sinner to repentance, but to tell him, unless he does he shall certainly perish; and if he does repent timely and entirely, that is, live a holy life, he shall be forgiven and be saved. But yet I desire, that this consideration be enlarged with some great circumstances; and let us remember,
1. That to admit mankind to repentance and pardon, was a favor greater than ever God gave to the angels and devils; for they were never admitted to the condition of second thoughts: Christ never groaned one groan for them; he never suffered one stripe, nor one affront, nor shed one drop of blood, to restore them to hopes of blessedness after their first failings. But this he did for us; he paid the score of our sins, only that we might be admitted to repent, and that this repentance might be effectual to the great purposes of felicity and salvation.
2. Consider, that as it cost Christ many millions of prayers and groans and sighs, so he is now at this instant, and has been for these sixteen hundred years, night and day, incessantly praying for grace to us, that we may repent; and for pardon when we do; and for degrees of pardon beyond the capacities of our infirmities, and the merit of our sorrows and
amendment: and this prayer he will continue till his second coming; for " he ever lives to make intercession for us." 15 And that we may know what it is in behalf of which he in tercedes, St. Paul tells us his design; " We are ambassadors for Christ, as though he did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God."16 And what Christ prays us to do, he prays to God that we may do: that which he desires of us as his servants, he desires of God, who is the fountain of the grace and powers to us, and without whose assistance we can do nothing.
3. That ever we should repent, was so costly a purchase, and so great a concernment, and so high a favor, and the event is esteemed by God himself so great an excellency, that our blessed Savior tells us, "there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repents;"17 meaning, that when Christ shall be glorified, and at the right hand of his Father make intercession for us, praying for our repentance, the conversion and repentance of every sinner is part of Christ's glorification, it is the answering of his prayers, it is a portion of his re ward, in which he does essentially glory by the joys of his glorified humanity. This is the joy of our Lord himself directly, not of the angels, save only by reflection: the joy (said our blessed Savior) shall be in the presence of the angels; they shall see the glory of the Lord, the answering of his prayers, the satisfaction of his desires, and the reward of his sufferings, in the repentance and consequent pardon of a sinner. For therefore he once suffered, and for that reason he rejoices for ever. And therefore, when a penitent sinner comes to receive the effect and full consummation of his pardon, it is called "an entering into the joy of our Lord;" that is, a partaking of that joy which Christ received at our conversion and enjoyed ever since.
4. Add to this, that the rewards of heaven are so great and glorious, and Christ's burden is so light, his yoke is so easy, that it is a shameless impudence to expect so great glories at a less rate than so little a service, at a lower rate than a holy life. It cost the heart-blood of the Son of God to obtain heaven for us upon that condition; and who shall die again to get heaven for us upon easier terms? What would you do,
if God should command you to kill your eldest son, or to work in the mines for a thousand years together, or to fast all your life-time with bread and water? were not heaven a very great bargain even after all this? And when God requires nothing of us but to live soberly, justly, and godly, (which things themselves are to a man a very great felicity, and necessary to our present well-being,) shall we think this to be an intolerable burden, and that heaven is too little a purchase at that price; and that God, in mere justice, will take a death bed sigh or groan, and a few unprofitable tears and promises, in exchange for all our duty?
If these motives, joined together with our own interest, (even as much as felicity, and the sight of God, and the avoiding the intolerable pains of hell, and many intermedial judgments, come to,) will not move us to leave, 1. the filthiness, and, 2. the trouble, and, 3. the uneasiness, and, 4. the unrea sonableness of sin, and turn to God — there is no more to be said; we must perish in our folly.
Section X — Of Preparation to, and the Manner how to receive
the holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
THE celebration of the holy sacrament is the great mysteriousness of the Christian religion, and succeeds to the most solemn rite of natural and Judaical religion, the law of sacrificing. For God spared mankind, and took the sacrifice of beasts, together with our solemn prayers, for an instrument of expiation. But these could not purify the soul from sin, but were typical of the sacrifice of something that could. But nothing could do this, but either the offering of all that sinned, that every man should be the anathema or devoted thing; or else by some one of the same capacity, who by some superadded excellency might in his own personal sufferings have a value great enough to satisfy for all the whole kind of sinning persons. This the Son of God, Jesus Christ, God and man, undertook, and finished by a sacrifice of himself upon the altar of the cross.
2. This sacrifice, because it was perfect, could be but one, and that once: but because the needs of the world should last as long as the world itself, it was necessary that there should be a perpetual ministry established, whereby this one sufficient sacrifice should be made eternally effectual to the several
new arising needs of all the world, who should desire it, or in any sense be capable of it.
3. To this end Christ was made a priest for ever: he was initiated or consecrated on the cross, and there began his priesthood, which was to last till his coming to judgment. It began on earth, but was to last and be officiated in heaven, where he sits perpetually representing and exhibiting to the Father that great effective sacrifice which he offered on the cross, to eternal and never-failing purposes.
4. As Christ is pleased to represent to his Father that great sacrifice as a means of atonement and expiation for all man kind, and with special purposes and intendment for all the elect, all that serve him in holiness; so he has appointed that the same ministry shall be done upon earth too, in our manner, and according to our proportion; and therefore has constituted and separated an order of men who, by " showing forth the Lord's death" by sacramental representation, may pray to God after the same manner that our Lord and High Priest does; that is, offer to God and represent in this solemn prayer and sacrament, Christ as already offered; so sending up a gracious instrument, whereby our prayers may, for his sake and in the same manner of intercession, be offered up to God in our behalf, and for all them for whom we pray, to all those purposes for which Christ died.
o. As the ministers of the sacrament do, in a sacramental manner, present to God the sacrifice of the cross, by being imitators of Christ's intercession; so the people are sacrificers too in their manner: for besides that, by saying Amen, they join in the act of him that ministers, and make it also to be their own; so, when they eat and drink the consecrated and blessed elements worthily, they receive Christ within them, and therefore may also offer him to God, while, in their sacrifice of obedience and thanksgiving, they present themselves to God with Christ, whom they have spiritually received, that is, themselves, with that which will make them gracious and acceptable. The offering their bodies, and souls, and services,to God in him, and by him, and with him, who is his Father's well-beloved, and in whom he is well pleased, cannot but be accepted to all the purposes of blessing, grace, and glory.1 1 Nosti tempora tu Jovis sereni, Cum fulget placidus, suoque vultu, Quo nil supplicibus solet negare. — Martial, ep. 1. v. 6.
6. This is the sum of the greatest mystery of our religion; it is the copy of the passion, and the ministration of the great mystery of our redemption; and therefore, whatsoever entitles us to the general privileges of Christ's passion, all that is necessary by way of disposition to the celebration of the sacrament of his passion; because this celebration is our manner of applying or using it. The particulars of which preparation are represented in the following rules.
1. No man must dare to approach to the holy sacrament of the Lord's supper, if he be in a state of any one sin,2 that is, unless he have entered into the state of repentance, that is, of sorrow and amendment; lest it be said concerning him, as it was concerning Judas, " the hand of him that betrays me is with me on the table:" and he that receives Christ into an impure soul or body, first turns his most excellent nourishment into poison, and then feeds upon it.
2. Every communicant must first have examined himself; that is, tried the condition and state of his soul, searched out the secret ulcers, inquired out its weaknesses and indiscretions, and all those aptnesses where it is exposed to temptation; that by finding out its diseases he may find a cure, and by discovering its aptnesses he may secure his present purposes of future amendment, and may be armed against dangers and temptations.
3.. This examination must be a man's own act and inquisition into his life: but then also it should lead a man on to run to those whom the great Physician of our souls, Christ Jesus, has appointed to minister physic to our diseases; that in all dangers and great accidents we may be assisted for comfort and remedy, for medicine and caution.
4. In this affair let no man deceive himself, and against such a time which public authority has appointed for us to receive the sacrament, weep for his sins by way of solemnity and ceremony, and still retain the affection: but he that comes to this feast must have on the wedding-garment, that is, he must have put on Jesus Christ, and he must have put off the old man with his affections and lusts; and he must be wholly conformed to Christ in the image of his mind. For then we have put on Christ when our souls are clothed with his righteousness, when every faculty of our soul is proportioned and vested ac-
cording to the pattern of Christ's life. And, therefore, a man must not leap from his last night's surfeit and bath, and then communicate: but when he has begun the work of God effectually, and made some progress in repentance, and has Avalked some stages and periods in the ways of godliness, then let him come to him that is to minister it, and having made known the state of his soul, he is to be admitted: but to receive it into an unhallowed soul and body is to receive the dust of the tabernacle in the waters of jealousy; it will make the belly to swell, and the thigh to rot; it will not convey Christ to us, but the devil will enter and dwell there, till with it he returns to his dwelling of torment. Remember always, that after a great sin, or after a habit of sins, a man is not soon made clean; and no unclean thing must come to this feast. It is not the preparation of two or three days that can render a person capable of this banquet: for in this feast, all Christ, and Christ's passion, and all his graces, the blessings and effects of his sufferings, are conveyed. Nothing can fit us for this but what can unite us to Christ, and obtain of him to present our needs to his heavenly Father; this sacrament can no otherwise be celebrated but upon the same terms on which we may hope for pardon and heaven itself.
5. When we have this general and indispensably necessary preparation, we are to make our souls more adorned and trim med up with circumstances of pious actions and special devotions, setting apart some portion of our time immediately before the day of solemnity, according as our great occasions will permit: and this time is specially to be spent in actions of repentance, confession of our sins, renewing our purposes of holy living, praying for pardon of our failings, and for those graces which may prevent the like sadnesses for the time to come, meditation upon the passion, upon the infinite love of God, expressed in so great mysterious manners of redemption; and indefinitely in all acts of virtue which may build our souls up into a temple fit for the reception of Christ himself, and the inhabitation of the Holy Spirit.
6. The celebration of the holy sacrament, being the most solemn prayer, joined with the most effectual instrument of its acceptance, must suppose us in the love of God and in charity with all the world; and therefore we must, before every communion especially, remember what differences or jealousies are
between us and any one else, and recompose all disunions, and cause right understandings between each other; offering to satisfy whom we have injured, and to forgive them who have injured us, without thoughts of resuming the quarrel when the solemnity is over; for that is but to rake the embers in light and fantastic ashes: it must be quenched, and a holy flame enkindled — no fires must be at all, but the fires of love and zeal; and the altar of incense will send up a sweet perfume, and make atonement for us.
7. When the day of the feast is come, lay aside all cares and impertinences of the world, and remember that this is your soul's day, a day of traffic and intercourse with heaven. Arise early in the morning. 1. Give God thanks for the approach of so great a blessing. 2. Confess your own unworthiness to admit so Divine a guest. 3. Then remember and deplore your sins, which have made you so unworthy. 4. Then confess God's goodness, and take sanctuary there, and upon him place your hopes; 5. And invite him to you with renewed acts of love, of holy desire, of hatred of his enemy, sin. 6. Make oblation of yourself wholly to be disposed by him, to the obedience of him, to his providence and possession, and pray him to enter and dwell there for ever. And after this, with joy and holy fear, and the forwardness of love, address yourself to the receiving of him, to whom, and by whom, and for whom, all faith, and all hope, and all love, in the whole catholic church, both in heaven and earth, is designed; him, whom kings and queens, and whole kingdoms, are in love with, and count it the greatest honor in the world that their crowns and scep tres are laid at his holy feet.
8. When the holy man stands at the table of blessing, and ministers the rite of consecration, then do as the angels do, who behold, and love, and wonder that the Son of God should be come food to the souls of his servants; that he, who cannot suffer any change or lessening, should be^ broken into pieces, and enter into the body to support and nourish the spirit, and yet at the same time remain in heaven, while he descends to you upon earth; that he who has essential felicity should become miserable and die for you, and then give himself to you for ever to redeem you from sin and misery; that by his wounds he should procure health to you, by his affronts he should entitle you to glory, by his death he should bring you
to life, and by becoming a man he should make you partaker of the Divine nature. These are such glories that, although they are made so obvious that each eye may behold them, yet they are also so deep that no thought can fathom them: but so it has pleased him to make these mysteries to be sensible, because the excellency and depth of the mercy is not intelligible; that while we are ravished and comprehended within the infiniteness of so vast and mysterious a mercy, yet we may be as sure of it as of that thing we see and feel, and smell and taste; but yet it is so great that we cannot understand it.
9. These holy mysteries are offered to our senses, but not to be placed under our feet; they are sensible, but not common; and, therefore, as the weakness of the elements adds wonder to the excellency of the sacrament, so let our reverence and venerable usages of them add honor to the elements, and acknowledge the glory of the mystery, and the Divinity of the mercy. Let us receive the consecrated elements with all devotion and humility of body and spirit; and do this honor to it, that it be the first food we eat, and the first beverage we drink that day, unless it be in case of sickness, or other great necessity; and that your body and soul both be prepared to its reception with abstinence from secular pleasures, that you may better have attended fastings and preparatory prayers. For if ever it be seasonable to observe the counsel of St. Paul, that married persons by consent should abstain for a time, that they may attend to solemn religion, it is now.3 It was not by St. Paul, nor the after-ages of the church, called a duty so to do, but it is most reasonable that the more solemn actions of religion should be attended to, with out the mixture of any thing that may discompose the mind and make it more secular or less religious.
10. In the act of receiving, exercise acts of faith with much confidence and resignation, believing it not to be common bread and wine, but holy in their use, holy in their signification, holy in their change, and holy in their effect: and believe, if you are a worthy communicant, you do as truly receive Christ's body and blood to all effects and purposes of the Spirit, as you do receive the blessed elements into your mouth — that you put your finger to his hand, and your hand into his side,
and your lips to his fontinel of blood, sucking life from his heart;4 and yet, if you do communicate unworthily, you eat and drink Christ to your danger, and death, and destruction. Dispute not concerning the secret of the mystery, and the nicety of the manner, of Christ's presence; it is sufficient to you that Christ shall be present to your soul as an instrument of grace, as a pledge of the resurrection, as the earnest of glory and immortality, and a means of many intermedial blessings, even all such as are necessary for you, and are in order to your salvation. And to make all this good to you, there is nothing necessary on your part but a holy life, and a true belief of all the sayings of Christ; among which, indefinitely assent to the words of institution, and believe that Christ, in the holy sacrament, gives you his body and his blood. He that believes not this is not a Christian. He that believes so much needs not to inquire further, nor to entangle his faith by disbelieving his sense.
11. Fail not, this solemnity, according to the custom of pious and devout people, to make an offering to God for the uses of religion and the poor, according to your ability. For when Christ feasts his body, let us also feast our fellow members, who have right to the same promises, and are partakers of the same sacrament, and partners of the same hope, and cared for under the same Providence, and descended from the same common parents, and whose Father God is, and Christ is their elder Brother. If you chance to communicate where this holy custom is not observed publicly, supply that want by your private charity; but offer it to God at his holy table, at least by your private designing it there.
12. When you have received, pray and give thanks. Pray for all estates of men; for they also have an interest in the body of Christ, of which they are members: and you, in con junction with Christ, (whom then you have received,) are more fit to pray for them in that advantage, and in the celebration of that holy sacrifice, which then is sacramentally represented to God. Give thanks for the passion of our dearest Lord: remember all its parts, and all the instruments of your redemption; and beg of God, that by a holy perseverance in well doing you may from shadows pass on to substances, from eat-
ing his body to seeing his face, from the typical, sacramental, and transient, to the real and eternal supper of the Lamb.
1 3. After the solemnity is done, let Christ dwell in your hearts by faith, and love, and obedience, and conformity to his life and death: as you have taken Christ into you, so put Christ on you, and conform every faculty of your soul and body to his holy image and perfection. Remember, that now Christ is all one with you; and, therefore, when you are to do an action, consider how Christ did, or would do the like; and do you imitate his example, and transcribe his copy, and understand all his commandments, and choose all that he propounded, and desire his promises, and fear his threatenings, and marry his loves and hatreds, and contract his friendships; for then you do every day communicate; especially when Christ thus dwells in you, and you in Christ, growing up towards a perfect man in Christ Jesus.
1 4. Do not instantly, upon your return from church, return also to the world, and secular thoughts and employments; but let the remaining parts of that day be like a post-communion, or an after-office, entertaining your blessed Lord with all the caresses and sweetness of love and colloquies, and intercourses of duty and affection, acquainting him with all your needs, and revealing to him all your secrets, and opening all your infirmities; and as the affairs of your person or employment call you off, so retire again with often ejaculations and acts of entertainment to your beloved guest.
The Effects and Benefits of Worthy Communicating.
When I said that the sacrifice of the cross, which Christ offered for all the sins and all the needs of the world, is re presented to God by the minister in the sacrament, and offered up in prayer and sacramental memory, after the manner that Christ himself intercedes for us in heaven, (so far as his glorious priesthood is imitable by his ministers on earth,) I must of necessity also mean, that all the benefits of that sacrifice are then conveyed to all that communicate worthily. But if we descend to particulars, then and there the church is nourished in her faith, strengthened in her hope, enlarged in her bowels with an increasing charity; there all the members of Christ are joined with each other, and all to Christ their head; and we again renew the covenant with God in Jesus
Christ, and God seals his part, and we promise for ours, and Christ unites both, and the Holy Ghost signs both in the col lation of those graces which we then pray for, and exercise and receive all at once. There our bodies are nourished with the signs, and our souls with the mystery: our bodies receive into them the seed of an immortal nature, and our souls are joined with him who is the first-fruits of the resurrection and never can die. And if we desire any thing else and need it, here it is to be prayed for, here to be hoped for, here to be received. Long life and health, and recovery from sickness, and competent support and maintenance, and peace and deliverance from our enemies, and content, and patience, and joy, and sanctified riches, or a cheerful poverty, and liberty, and whatsoever else is a blessing, was purchased for us by Christ in his death and resurrection, and in his intercession in heaven. And this sacrament being that to our particulars which the great mysteries are in themselves and by design to all the world, if we receive worthily, we shall receive any of these blessings, according as God shall choose for us; and he will not only choose with more wisdom, but also with more affection, than we can for ourselves.
After all this, it is advised by the guides of souls, wise men and pious, that all persons should communicate very often, even as often as they can, without excuses or delays; every thing that puts us from so holy an employment, when we are moved to it, being either a sin or an imperfection, an infirmity or indevotion, and an inactiveness of spirit. All Christian people must come. They, indeed, that are in a state of sin must not come so, but yet they must come. First, they must quit their state of death, and then partake of the bread of life. They that are at enmity with their neighbors must come — that is no excuse for their not coming; only they must not bring their enmity along with them, but leave it, and then come. They that have a variety of secular employments must come;5 only they must leave their secular thoughts and affections behind them, and then come and converse with God. If any man be well grown in grace, he must needs come, because he is excellently disposed to so holy a feast: but he that is but in the infancy of piety had need to come, that so he may grow in grace. The strong must come lest they become
weak; and the weak that they may become strong. The sick must come to be cured; the healthful to be preserved. They that have leisure must come, because they have no excuse; they that have no leisure must come hither, that by so excellent religion they may sanctify their business. The penitent sin ners must come, that they may be justified; and they that are justified, that they may be justified still. They that have fears and great reverence to these mysteries, and think no preparation to be sufficient, must receive, that they may learn how to receive the more worthily; and they that have a less degree of reverence must come often to have it heightened: that as those creatures that live among the snows of the mountains turn white with their food and conversation with such perpetual whitenesses, so our souls may be transformed into the similitude and union with Christ by our perpetual feeding on him, and conversation, not only in his courts, but in his very heart, and most secret affections, and incomparable purities.
Prayers for all sorts of Men and all Necessities; relating to the several parts of the Virtue of Religion.
A Prayer for the Graces of Faith, Hope, Charity. O Lord God of infinite mercy, of infinite excellency, who have sent your holy Son into the world to redeem us from an intolerable misery, and to teach us a holy religion, and to for give us an infinite debt; give me your Holy Spirit, that my understanding and all my faculties may be so resigned to the discipline and doctrine of my Lord, that I may be prepared in mind and will to die for the testimony of Jesus, and to suffer any affliction or calamity that shall offer to hinder my duty, or tempt me to shame, or sin, or apostacy; and let my faith be the parent of a good life, a strong shield to repel the fiery darts of the devil, and the author of a holy hope, of modest desires, of confidence in God, and of a never-failing charity to you, my God, and to all the world; that I may never have my portion with the unbelievers, or uncharitable and desperate persons; but may be supported by the strengths of faith in all temptations, and may be refreshed with the comforts of a holy hope in all my sorrows, and may bear the burden of the Lord, and the infirmities of my neighbor, by the support of charity; that the yoke of Jesus may become easy to me, and my love
may do all the miracles of grace, till from grace it swell to glory, from earth to heaven, from duty to reward, from the imperfections of a beginning and still growing love, it may arrive to the consummation of an eternal and never-ceasing charity, through Jesus Christ the Son of your love, the anchor of our hope, and the author and finisher of our faith: to whom, with you, 0 Lord God, Father of heaven and earth, and with your Holy Spirit, be all glory, and love, and obedience, and dominion, now and for ever. Amen.
Acts of Love by way of Prayer and Ejaculation; to be used in private.
O God, you are my God, early will I seek you: my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see your power and your glory so as I have seen you in the sanctuary. Because your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you. Psal. Ixiii. 1, &c.
1 am ready, not only to be bound, but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus. Acts xxi. 13.
How amiable are your tabernacles, you Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cries out for the living God. Blessed are they that dwell in your house; they will still be praising you. Psal. Ixxxiv. 1, 2, 4.
O blessed Jesu, you are worthy of all adoration, and all honor, and all love: you are the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace; of your government and peace there shall be no end; you are the brightness of your Father's glory, the express image of his person, the appointed heir of all things. You uphold all things by the word of your power; you did by yourself purge our sins; you are set on the right hand of the Majesty on high; you are made better than the angels; you have by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. You, O dearest Jesus, art the head of the church, the beginning and the first-born from the dead: in all things you have the pre-eminence, and it pleased the Father that in you should all fulness dwell. Kingdoms are in love with you: kings lay their crowns and sceptres at your feet; and queens are your handmaids, and wash the feet of your servants.
A Prayer to be said in any Affliction, as Death of Children, of Husband or Wife, in great Poverty, in Imprisonment, in a sad and disconsolate Spirit, and in Temptations to Despair.
O eternal God, Father of mercies, and God of all comfort, with much mercy look upon the sadnesses and sorrows of your servant. My sins lie heavy upon me, and press me sore, and there is no health in my bones by reason of your displeasure and my sin. The waters are gone over me, and I stick fast in the deep mire, and my miseries are without comfort, because they are punishments of my sin: and I am so evil and unworthy a person, that, though I have great desires, yet I have no dispositions or worthiness toward receiving comfort. My sins have caused my sorrow, and my sorrow does not cure my sins: and unless for your own sake, and merely because you are good, you shall pity me and relieve me, I am as much without remedy as now I am without comfort. Lord, pity me! Lord, let your grace refresh my spirit! Let your comforts support me, your mercy pardon me, and never let my portion be among hopeless and accursed spirits; for you are good and gracious, and I throw myself upon your mercy. Let me never let my hold go, and do you with me what seems good in your own eyes. I cannot suffer more than I have de served; and yet I can need no relief so great as your mercy is; for you are infinitely more merciful than I can be miserable; and your mercy, which is above all your own works, must needs be far above all my sin and all my misery. Dearest Jesus, let me trust in you for ever, and let me never be confounded. Amen.
Ejaculations and short Meditations to be used in time of Sickness and Sorrow, or Danger of Death.
Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to you.f) Hide not your face from me in the time of my trouble, incline your ear to me when I call: O hear me, and that right soon. For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burnt up as it were with a fire-brand. My heart is smit ten down and withered like grass, so that I forget to eat my bread: and that because of your indignation and wrath; for you have taken me up and cast me down: your arrows stick
fast in me, and your hand presses me sore.7 There is no health in my flesh because of your displeasure; neither is there any rest in my bones by reason of my sin. My wickednesses are gone over my head, and are a sore burden, too heavy for me to bear. But I will confess my wickedness, and be sorry for my sin. O Lord, rebuke me not in your indignation, neither chasten me in your displeasure.8 Lord, be merciful to me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.9
Have mercy upon me, O God, after your great goodness, according to the multitude of your mercies do away mine offenses.10 O remember not the sins and offenses of my youth; but according to your mercy think you upon me, O Lord, for your goodness.11 Wash me throughly from my wickedness; and cleanse me from my sin. Make me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.12 Cast me not away from your presence, from your all-hallowing and life-giving presence: and take not your Holy Spirit, your sanctifying, your guiding, your comforting, your supporting, and confirming Spirit, from me.
O God, you are my God for ever and ever: you shall be my guide to death.13 Lord, comfort me now that I lie sick upon my bed: make you my bed in all my sickness.14 O deliver my soul from the place of hell; and do you* receive me.15 My heart is disquieted within me, and the fear of death is fallen upon me.16 Behold, you have made my days as it were a span long, and my age is even as nothing in respect of you; and truly every man living is altogether vanity.17 When you with rebukes do chasten man for sin, you make his beauty to consume away, like a moth fretting a garment: every man therefore is but vanity. And now, Lord, what is my hope? truly my hope is even in you. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with your ears consider my calling: hold not your peace at my tears. Take this plague away from me: I am consumed by the means of your heavy hand. I am a stranger with you and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
0 spare me a little, that I may recover my strength, before
1 go hence and be no more seen. My soul cleaves to the dust: O quicken me according to your word.18 And when the
snares of death compass me round about, let not the pains of hell take hold upon me.19
An Act of Faith concerning the Resurrection and the Day of Judgment, to be said by Sick Persons, or meditated.
I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, though my reins be consumed within me. Job xix. 25, &c.
God shall come, and shall not keep silence; there shall go before him a consuming fire, and a mighty tempest shall be stirred up round about him: he shall call the heaven from above, and the earth, that he may judge his people.20 O blessed Jesu, you are my judge and you are my advocate: have mercy upon me in the hour of my death, and in the day of judgment. See John v. 28, and 1 Thess. iv. 15.
Short Prayers to be said by Sick Persons.
0 holy Jesus, you are a merciful high priest, and touched with the sense of our infirmities; you know the sharpness of my sickness and the weakness of my person. The clouds are gatkered about me, and you have covered me with your storm: my understanding has not such apprehension of things as formerly. Lord, let your mercy support me, your Spirit guide me, and lead me through the valley of this death safely; that I may pass it patiently, holily, with perfect resignation; and let me rejoice in the Lord, in the hopes of pardon, in the expectation of glory, in the sense of your mercies, in the refreshments of your Spirit, in a victory over all temptations.
You have promised to be with us in tribulation. Lord, my soul is troubled, and my body is weak, and rny hope is in you, and my enemies are busy and mighty; now make good your holy promise. Now, 0 holy Jesus, now let your hand of grace be upon me: restrain my ghostly enemies, and give me all sorts of spiritual assistances. Lord, remember your servant in the day when you bind up your jewels.
O take from me all tediousness of spirit, all impatience and unquietness: let me possess my soul in patience, and resign my soul and body into your hands, as into the hands of a faithful Creator and a blessed Redeemer.
O holy Jesu, you did die for us; by your sad, pungent, and intolerable pains, which you enduredst for me, have pity on me, and ease my pain, or increase my patience. Lay on me no more than you shall enable me to bear. I have de served it all, and more, and infinitely more. Lord, I am weak and ignorant, timorous and inconstant; and I fear lest some thing should happen that may discompose the state of my soul, that may displease you: do what you will with me, so you do but preserve me in your fear and favor. You know that it is my great fear, but let your Spirit secure that nothing may be able to separate me from the love of God in Jesus Christ: then smite me here that you may spare me for ever; and yet, O Lord, smite me friendly, for you know my infirmities. Into your hands I commend my spirit; for you have redeemed me, O Lord, you God of truth. Come, Holy Spirit, help me in this conflict. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.
[Let the sick man often meditate upon these following promises and gracious words of God.]
My help comes of the Lord, who preserves them that are true of heart. Psal. vii. 1 1.
And all they that know your name will put their trust in you: for you, Lord, have never failed them that seek you. Psal. ix. 10.
O how plentiful is your goodness, which you have laid up for them that fear you, and that you have prepared for them that put their trust in you, even before the sons of men! Psal. xxxi. 21.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, and upon them that put their trust in his mercy, to deliver their souls from death. Psal. xxxiii. 17.
The Lord is near to them that are of a contrite heart; and will save such as are of an humble spirit. Psal. xxxiv. 18.
You, Lord, shall save both man and beast: how excellent is your mercy, O God! and the children of men shall put their trust under the shadow of your wings. Psal. xxxvi. 7.
They shall be satisfied with the plenteousness of your house; and you shall give them to drink of your pleasures, as out of the rivers. Ver. 8.
For with you is the well of life; and in your light we shall see light. Ver. 9.
Commit your way to the Lord, and put your trust in him, and he shall bring it to pass. Psal. xxxvii. 5.
But the salvation of the righteous comes of the Lord, who is also their strength in the time of trouble. Ver. 40.
So that a man shall say, Truly there is a reward for the righteous: doubtless there is a God that judges the earth. Psal. Iviii. 10.
Blessed is the man whom you choose and receive to you: he shall dwell in your court, and shall be satisfied with the pleasures of your house, even of your holy temple. Psal. IxV. 4.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Psal. cxxvi. 6.
It is written, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Heb. xiii. 5.
The prayer of faith shall save the sick; and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. James v. 15.
Come, and let us return to the Lord; for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has smitten, and he will bind us up.
If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to for give us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John i. 9.
He that forgives shall be forgiven. Luke vi. 37.
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us. 1 John v. 14.
And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins.
If you, being evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in hea ven give good things to them that ask him? Matt. vii. 11.
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. 1 Tim. i. 15.
He that has given us his Son, how should he not, with him, give us all things else? Rom. viii. 32.
Acts of Hope, to be used by Sick Persons after a pious Life.
I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
coine, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. viii. 38, 39.
I have fought a good fight: I have finished my course: I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comforts, who comforts us in all our tribulation. 2 Cor. i. 3, 4. A Prayer to be said in behalf of a Sick or Dying Person.
O Lord God, there is no number of your days nor of your mer cies, and the sins and sorrows of your servant also are multi plied. Lord, look upon him with much mercy and pity, forgive him all his sins, comfort his sorrows, ease his pain, satisfy his doubts, relieve his fears, instruct his ignorances, strengthen his understanding, take from him all disorders of spirit, weakness and abuse of fancy. Restrain the malice and power of the spirits of darkness: and suffer him to be injured neither by his ghostly enemies nor his own infirmities; and let a holy and a just peace, the peace of God, be within his conscience.
Lord, preserve his senses till the last of his time, strengthen his faith, confirm his hope, and give him a never-ceasing charity to you, our God, and to all the world: stir up in him a great and proportionable contrition for all the evils he has done, and give him a just measure of patience for all he suffers: give him prudence, memory, and consideration, rightly to state the accounts of his soul; and do you remind him of all his duty, that, when it shall please you that his soul goes out from the prison of his body, it may be received by angels, and preserved from the surprise of evil spirits, and from the horrors and amazements of new and strange regions, and be laid up in the bosom of our Lord, till, at the day of your second coming, it shall be reunited to the body, which is now to be laid down in weakness and dishonour; but we humbly beg may then be raised up with glory and power for ever to live, and to behold the face of God in the glories of the Lord Jesus, who is our hope, our resurrection, and our life, the light of our eyes and the joy of our souls, our blessed arid ever-glorious Redeemer. Amen.
[Hither the sick person may draw in, and use the acts of several virtues respersed in the several parts of this book, the several litanies, viz. of repentance, of the passion and the single prayers, according to his present needs.]
A Prayer to be said in a Storm at Sea. O my God, you did create the earth and the sea for your glory and the use of man, and do daily show wonders in the deep: look upon the danger and fear of your servant. My sins have taken hold upon me, and without the supporting arm of your inercy I cannot look up; but my trust is in you. Do you, O Lord, rebuke the sea, and make it calm, for to you the winds and the sea obey; let not the waters swallow me up, but let your Spirit, the spirit of gentleness and mercy, move upon the waters. Be you reconciled to your servants, and then the face of the waters will be smooth. I fear that my sins make me, like Jonas, the cause of the tempest. Cast out all my sins, and throw not your servants away from your presence, and from the land of the living, into the depth, where all things are forgotten. But if it be your will that we shall go down into the waters, Lord, receive my soul into your holy hands, and preserve it in mercy and safety till the day of restitution of all things; and be pleased to unite my death to the death of your Son, and to accept of it so united as a punishment for all my sins, that you may forget all your anger, and blot my sins out of your book, and write my soul there, for Jesus Christ's sake, our dearest Lord and most mighty Redeemer. Amen.
Then make an Act of Resignation thus: To God pertain the issues of life and death. It is the Lord,
let him do what seems good in his own eyes. Your will be
done in earth as it is in heaven. Recite Psalms cvii. and cxxx.
A Form of a Vow to be made in this or the like Danger.
If the Lord will be gracious and hear the prayer of his servant, and bring me safe to shore, then I will praise him secretly and publicly, and pay to the uses of charity [or religion] [then name the sum you design for holy uses']. O my God, my goods are nothing to you: I will also be your servant all the days of my life, and remember this mercy and my present
purposes, and live more to God's glory and with a stricter duty. And do you please to accept this vow as an instance of my importunity, and the greatness of my needs; and be you graciously moved to pity and deliver me. Amen.
[This form also may be used in praying for a blessing on an enterprise, and may be instanced in actions of devotion as iv ell as of charity '.]
A Prayer before a Journey.
O almighty God, who fill all things with your presence, and art a God afar off as well as near at hand; you did send your angel to bless Jacob in his journey, and did lead the children of Israel through the Red Sea, making it a wall on the right hand and on the left; be pleased to let your angel go out before me and guide me in my journey, preserving me from dangers of robbers, from violence of enemies, and sudden and sad accidents, from falls and errors. And prosper my journey to your glory, and to all my innocent purposes; and preserve me from all sin, that I may return in peace and holiness, with your favor and your blessing, and may serve you in thankfulness and obedience all the days of my pilgrimage; and at last bring me to your country, to the celestial Jerusalem, there to dwell in your house, and to sing praises to you for ever. Amen.
Ad Sect. 4.] A Prayer to be said before the hearing or reading the Word of God.
O holy and eternal Jesus, who have begotten us by your word, renewed us by your Spirit, fed us by your sacraments, and by the daily ministry of your word, still go on to build us up to life eternal. Let your most Holy Spirit be present with me and rest upon me in the reading or hearing your sacred word, that I may do it humbly, reverently, without prej udice, with a mind ready and desirous to learn and to obey; that I may be readily furnished and instructed to every good work, and may practice all your holy laws and commandments, to the glory of your holy name, O holy and eternal Jesus. Amen.
Ad Sect. 5, 9, 10.] A Form of Confession of Sins and Repentance, to be used upon Fasting Days, or Days of Humiliation, especially in Lent, and before the Holy Sacrament. " Have mercy upon me, O God, after your great goodness;
according to the multitude of your mercies do away mine of fences: for I will confess my wickedness, and be sorry for my sin." O my dearest Lord, I am not worthy to be accounted among the meanest of your servants, not worthy to be sustained by the least fragments of your mercy, but to be shut out of your presence for ever with dogs and unbelievers. — But for your name's sake, O Lord, be merciful to my sin, for it is great.
I am the vilest of sinners, and the worst of men; proud and vain-glorious, impatient of scorn or of just reproof; not en during to be slighted, and yet extremely deserving it; I have been cozened by the colors of humility, and when I have truly called myself vicious I could not endure any man else should say so or think so. I have been disobedient to my su periors, churlish and ungentle in my behavior, unchristian and unmanly. — But for your name's sake, &c.
O just and dear God, how can I expect pity or pardon, who am so angry and peevish, with and without cause, envious at good, rejoicing in the evil of my neighbors, negligent of my charge, idle and useless, timorous and base, jealous and impu dent, ambitious and hard-hearted,, soft, unmortified, and effeminate in my life, undevout in my prayers, without fancy or affection, without attendance to them or perseverance in them; but passionate and curious in pleasing my appetite of meat, and drink, and pleasures, making matter both for sin and sickness; and I have reaped the cursed fruits of such improvi dence, entertaining indecent and impure thoughts; and I have brought them forth in indecent and impure actions, and the spirit of uncleanness has entered in and unhallowed the tem ple which you did consecrate for the habitation of your Spirit of love and holiness. — But for your name's sake, O Lord, be merciful to my sin, for it is great.
You have given me a whole life to serve you in, and to advance my hopes of heaven; and this precious time I have thrown away upon my sins and vanities, being improvident of my time and of my talent, and of your grace and my own advantages, resisting your Spirit and quenching him. I have been a great lover of myself, and yet used many ways to destroy myself. I have pursued my temporal ends with greediness and indirect means. I am revengeful and unthankful, forget ting benefits, but not so soon forgetting injuries, curious and murmuring, a great breaker of promises. I have not loved
my neighbor's good, nor advanced it in all things, where I could. I have been unlike you in all things. I am unmerciful and unjust; a sottish admirer of things below, and careless of heaven and the ways that lead thither.
But for your name's sake, O Lord, be merciful to my sin, for it is great.
All my senses have been windows to let sin in, and death by sin. Mine eyes have been adulterous and covetous; mine ears open to slander and detraction; my tongue and palate loose and wanton, intemperate and of foul language, talkative and lying, rash and malicious, false and flattering, irreligious and irreverent, detracting and censorious; my hands have been injurious and unclean, my passions violent and rebellious, my desires impatient and unreasonable; all my members and all my faculties have been servants of sin; and my very best actions have more matter of pity than of confidence, being im perfect in my best, and intolerable in most. — But for your name's sake, O Lord, &c.
To this and a far bigger heap of sin I have added also the faults of others to my own score, by neglecting to hinder them to sin in all that I could and ought; but I also have encouraged them in sin, have taken off their fears, and hardened their consciences, and tempted them directly, and prevailed in it to my own ruin and theirs, unless your glorious and unspeakable mercy has prevented so intolerable a calamity.
Lord, I have abused your mercy, despised your judgments, turned your grace into wantonness. I have been unthankful for your infinite loving-kindness. I have sinned and repented, and then sinned again and resolved against it, and presently broke it; and then I tied myself up with vows, and then was tempted, and then I yielded by little and little, till I was willingly lost again, and my vows fell off like cords of vanity.
Miserable man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of sin?
And yet, O Lord, I have another heap of sins to be unloaded. My secret sins, O Lord, are innumerable; sins I noted not; sins that I willingly neglected; sins that I acted upon wilful ignorance and voluntary rnispersuasion; sins that I have for got; and sins which a diligent and a watchful spirit might have prevented, but I would not. Lord, I am confounded with the multitude of them, and the horror of their remembrance, though
I consider them nakedly in their direct appearance, without the deformity of their unhandsome and aggravating circumstances: but, so dressed, they are a sight too ugly, an instance of amazement, infinite in degrees, and insufferable in their load.
And yet you have spared me all this while, and have not thrown me into hell, where I have deserved to have been long since, and even now to have been shut up to^an eternity of torments with insupportable amazement, fearing the revelation of your day.
Miserable man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of sin?
You shall answer for me, O Lord my God. You that pray for me shall be my judge.
The Prayer.
You have prepared for me a more healthful sorrow: 0 deny not your servant when he begs sorrow of you. Give me a deep contrition for my sins, a hearty detestation and loathing of them, hating them worse than death with torments. Give me grace entirely, presently, and for ever, to forsake them; to walk with care and prudence, with fear and watchfulness, all my days; to do all my duty with diligence and charity, with zeal and a never-fainting spirit; to redeem the time, to trust upon your mercies, to make use of all the instruments of grace, to work out my salvation with fear and trembling: that you may have the glory of pardoning all my sins, and I may reap the fruit of all your mercies and all your graces, of your patience and long-suffering, even to live a holy life here, and to reign with you for ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ad Sect. 6.] Special Devotions to be used upon the Lord's Day, and the great Festivals of Christians.
In the morning recite the following form of thanksgiving, upon the special festivals, adding the commemoration of the special blessings according to the following prayers; adding such prayers as you shall choose out of the foregoing devotions.
Besides the ordinary and public duties of the day, if you retire into your closet to read and meditate, after you have per formed that duty, say the Song of St. Ambrose, (commonly called the Te Deum,} or, We praise you, &c.; then add the prayers for particular graces, which are at the end of the
former chapter, such and as many of them as shall fit your present needs and affections, ending with the Lord's Prayer. This form of devotion may, for variety, be indifferently used at other times.
A form of thanksgiving, with a recital of public and private blessings, to be used upon Easter-day, Whit- Sunday, As cension-day, and all Sundays of the year: but the middle part of it may be reserved for the more solemn festivals, and the other used upon the ordinary, as every man's affections or leisure shall determine.
[1.] Ex Liturgia S. Basilii magna ex parte.
O eternal Essence, Lord God, Father Almighty, Maker of all things in heaven and earth; it is a good thing to give thanks to you, O Lord, and to pay to you all reverence, worship, and devotion, from a clean and prepared heart, and witli an humble spirit to present a living and reasonable sacrifice to your holiness and majesty; for you have given to us the knowledge of your truth; and who is able to declare your greatness, and to recount all your marvellous works which you have done in all the generations of the world?
O great Lord and Governor of all things, Lord and Creator of all things visible and invisible, who sit upon the throne of your glory, and behold the secret of the lowest abyss and darkness, you are without beginning, uncircumscribed, incomprehensible, unalterable, and seated for ever unmovable in your own essential happiness and tranquillity; you are the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is
Our dearest and most gracious Savior, our hope, the wisdom of the Father, the image of your goodness, the Word eternal, and the brightness of your person, the power of God from eternal ages, the true light that lightens every man that comes into the world, the redemption of man, and the sanctification of our spirits.
By whom the Holy Ghost descended upon the church, the Holy Spirit of truth, the seal of adoption; the earnest of the inheritance of the saints; the first-fruits of everlasting felicity; the life-giving power; the fountain of sanctification; thecomfort of the church, the ease of the afflicted, the support of the weak, the wealth of the poor, the teacher of the doubtful, scrupulous, and ignorant; the anchor of the fearful; the infinite reward
of all faithful souls, by whom all reasonable and understanding creatures serve you, and send up a never-ceasing and a neverrejected sacrifice of prayer, and praises, and adoration.
All angels and archangels, all thrones and dominions, all principalities and powers, the cherubim with many eyes, and the seraphim covered with wings from the terror and amazement of your brightest glory; these, and all the powers of heaven, do perpetually sing praises and never-ceasing hymns and eternal anthems to the glory of the eternal God, the Al mighty Father of men and angels.
Holy is our God; holy is the Almighty; holy is the Im mortal; holy, holy, holy, Lord God of sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of the majesty of your glory. Amen. With these holy and blessed spirits I also, your servant, O you great lover of souls, though I be unworthy to offer praise to such a majesty; yet, out of my bounden duty, humbly offer up my heart and voice to join in this blessed choir, and confess the glories of the Lord. For you are holy, and of your greatness there is no end; and in your justice and goodness you have measured out to us all your works.
You made man out of the earth, and did form him after your own image; you did place him in a garden of pleasure, and gave him laws of righteousness to be to him a seed of immortality.
" Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he has done for the children of men."
For when man sinned and listened to the whispers of a tempting spirit, and refused to hear the voice of God, you did throw him out from paradise, and sent him to till the earth; but yet left not his condition without remedy, but did provide for him the salvation of a new birth, and by the blood of your Son did redeem and pay the price to your own justice for your own creature, lest the work of your own hands should perish.
" Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord," &c.
For you, O Lord, in every age did send testimonies from heaven, blessings, and prophets, and fruitful seasons, and preachers of righteousness, and miracles of power and mercy; you spoke by your prophets and saidst, " I will help by one that is mighty;" and, in the fulness of time, spoke to us by
your Son, by whom you did make both the worlds, who, by the word of his power, sustains all things in heaven and earth; who thought it no robbery to be equal to the Father; who, being before all time, was pleased to be born in time to con verse with men, to be incarnate of a holy virgin; he emptied himself of all his glories, took on him the form of a servant, in all things being made like to us, in a soul of passions and discourses, in a body of humility and sorrow, but in all things innocent, and in all things afflicted; and suffered death for us, that we by him might live, and be partakers of his nature and his glories, of his body and of his Spirit, of the blessings of earth, and of immortal felicities in heaven.
" Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord," &c.
For you, O holy and immortal God, O sweetest Savior Jesus, were made under the law to condemn sin in the flesh; you, who knew no sin, were made sin for us; you gave to us righteous commandments, and made known to us all your Father's will; you did redeem us from our vain conversation, and from the vanity of idols, false principles, and foolish confidences, and brought us to the knowledge of the true and only God and our Father, and have made us to your self a peculiar people of your own purchase, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; you have washed our souls in the laver of re generation, the sacrament of baptism; you have reconciled us by your death, justified us by your resurrection, sanctified us by your Spirit, sending him upon your church in visible forms, and giving him in powers and miracles and mighty signs, and continuing this incomparable favor in gifts and sanctifying graces, and promising that he shall abide with us for ever; you have fed us with your own broken body, and given drink to our souls out of your own heart, and have ascended up on high, and have overcome all the powers of death and hell, and redeemed us from the miseries of a sad eternity; and sit at the right hand of God, making intercession for us with a never-ceasing charity.
" Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord," &c.
The grave could not hold you long, O holy and eternal Jesus; your body could not see corruption, neither could your soul be left in hell; you were free among the dead, and you broke the iron gates of death, and the bars and chains of the lower prisons. You brought comfort to the souls of the
patriarchs, who waited for your coming, who longed for the redemption of man, and the revelation of your day. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saw your day and rejoiced; and when you did arise from your bed of darkness, and left the graveclothes behind you, and did put on a robe of glory, (over which for forty days you did wear a veil,) and then enteredst into a cloud, and then into glory, then the powers of hell were confounded, then death lost its power and was swallowed up into victory; and though death is not quite destroyed, yet it is made harmless and without a sting, and the condition of human nature is made an entrance to eternal glory; and art become the Prince of life, the first-fruits of the resurrection, the first-born from the dead, having made the way plain before our faces, that we may also arise again in the resurrection of the last day, when you shall come again to us, to render to every man according to his works.
" Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord," &c.
O give thanks to the Lord; for he is gracious, and his mercy endures for ever.
O all you angels of the Lord, praise you the Lord; praise him and magnify him for ever.
O you spirits and souls of the righteous, praise you the Lord; praise him and magnify him for ever.
And now, 0 Lord God, what shall I render to your Divine Majesty for all the benefits you have done to your servant in my personal capacity?
You are my Creator and my Father, my Protector and my Guardian; you have brought me from my mother's womb; you have told all my joints, and in your book were all my members written; you have given me a comely body, Chris tian and careful parents, holy education; you have been my guide and my teacher all my days; you have given me ready faculties, an unloosed tongue, a cheerful spirit, straight limbs, a good reputation, and liberty of person, a quiet life, and a tender conscience, [a loving wife or husband, and hopeful children]. You were my hope from my youth, through you have I been holden up ever since I was born. You have clothed me and fed me, given me friends and blessed them; given me many days of comfort and health, free from those sad infirmities with which many of your saints and dearest servants are afflicted. You have sent your angel to snatch me
from the violence of fire and water, to prevent precipices, fracture of bones, to rescue me from thunder and lightning, plague and pestilential diseases, murder and robbery, violence of chance and enemies, and all the spirits of darkness; and in the days of sorrow you have refreshed me; in the destitution of provisions you have taken care of me, and you have said to me, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."
" I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, secretly among the faithful, and in the congregation."
You, O my dearest Lord and Father, have taken care of my soul, have pitied my miseries, sustained my infirmities, relieved and instructed my ignorances: and though I have broken your righteous laws and commandments, run passion ately after vanities, and was in love with death, and was dead in sin, and was exposed to thousands of temptations, and fell foully, and continued in it, and loved to have it so, and hated to be reformed; yet you did call me with the checks of conscience, with daily sermons and precepts of holiness, with fear and shame, with benefits and the admonitions of your most Holy Spirit, by the counsel of my friends, by the example of good persons, with holy books and thousands of excellent arts, and would not suffer me to perish in my folly, but did force me to attend to your gracious calling, and have put me into a state of repentance, and possibilities of pardon, being infinitely desirous I should live, and recover, and make use of your grace, and partake of your glories.
" I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, secretly among the faithful, and in the congregation. For salvation belongs to the Lord, and your blessing is upon your servant. But as for me, I will come into your house in the multitude of your mercies, and in your fear will I worship to wards your holy temple. For of you, and in you, and through and for you, are all things. Blessed be the name of God, from generation to generation.". Amen.
A short Form of Thanksgiving to be said upon any special Deliverance, as from Childbirth, from Sickness, from Battle, or imminent Danger at Sea or Land, &c.
O most merciful and gracious God, you fountain of all mercy and blessing, you have opened the hand of your mercy to fill me with blessings and the sweet effects of your loving-
kindness; you feed us like a shepherd, you govern us as a king, you bear us in your arms like a nurse, you do cover us under the shadow of your wings and shelter us like a hen; you (O dearest Lord!) wakcst for us as a watchman, you provide for us like a husband, you love us as a friend, and think on us perpetually as a careful mother on her helpless babe, and art extremely merciful to all that fear you. And now, O Lord, you have added this great blessing of deliverance from my late danger [here name the blessing']; it was your hand and the help of your mercy that relieved me; the waters of affliction had drowned me, and the stream had gone over my soul, if the Spirit of the Lord had not moved upon these waters. You, O Lord, did revoke your angry sentence which I had deserved, and which was gone out against me. To you, 0 Lord, I ascribe the praise and honor of my redemption. I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy, for you have considered my trouble, and have known my soul in adversity. As you have spread your hand upon me for a covering, so also enlarge my heart with thankfulness, and fill my mouth with praises, that my duty and returns to you may be great as my needs of mercy are; and let your gracious favors and loving-kindness endure for ever and ever upon your servant; and grant that what you have sown in mercy may spring up in duty; and let your grace so strengthen my pur poses, that I may sin no more, lest your threatening return upon me in anger, and your anger break me into pieces, but let me walk in the light of your favor, and in the paths of your commandments; that I, living here to the glory of your name, may at last enter into the glory of my Lord, to spend a whole eternity in giving praise to your exalted and ever-glorious name. Amen.
" We praise you, O God, we acknowledge you to be the Lord. All the earth does worship you, the Father everlasting. To you all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers in it. To you cherubim and seraphim continually do cry, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of sabaoth; heaven and earth are full of the majesty of your glory. The glorious company of the apostles praise you. The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise you. The noble army of martyrs praise you. The holy church throughout all the world does acknowledge you, the Father, of an infinite majesty; your honor-
able, true, and only Son; also the Holy Ghost the Comforter. You are the King of glory, O Christ; you are the everlasting Son of the Father. When you took upon you to deliver man, you did not abhor the virgin's womb. When you had overcome the sharpness of death, you did open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. You sit at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father. We believe that you shall come to be our judge. We, therefore, pray you, help your servants, whom you have redeemed with your precious blood. Make them to be numbered with your saints in glory everlasting. O Lord, save your people, and bless your heritage. Govern them, and lift them up for ever. Day by day we magnify you, and we worship your name ever world without end. Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin. O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us. O Lord, let your mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in you. O Lord, in you have I trusted: let me never be confounded." Amen.
A Prayer of Thanksgiving after the receiving of some great Blessing, as the Birth of an Heir, the Success of an honest Design, a Victory, a good Harvest, fyc. O Lord God, Father of mercies, the fountain of comfort and blessing, of life and peace, of plenty and pardon, who fill heaven with your glory, and earth with your goodness; I give you the most earnest, most humble, and most enlarged returns of my glad and thankful heart, for you have refreshed me with your comforts, and enlarged me with your blessing; you have made my flesh and my bones to rejoice; for, be sides the blessings of all mankind, the blessings of nature, and the blessings of grace, the support of every minute, and the comforts of every day, you have opened your bosom, and at this time have poured out an excellent expression of your loving -kindness \Jiere name the blessing']. What am I, O Lord, and what is my father's house; what is the life and what are the capacities of your servant, that you should do this to me; that the great God of men and angels should make a special decree in heaven for me, and send out an angel of blessing, and instead of condemning and ruining me, as I miserably have deserved, to distinguish me from many my equals and my betters, by this and many other special acts of grace and favor?
Praised be the Lord daily, even the Lord that helps us, and pours his benefits upon us. He is our God, even the God of whom comes salvation; God is the Lord, by whom we escape death. You have brought me to great honor, and comforted me on every side.
You, Lord, have made me glad through your works; I will rejoice in giving praise for the operation of your hands.
0 give thanks to the Lord, and call upon his name; tell the people what things he has done.
As for me, I will give great thanks to the Lord, and praise him among the multitude.
Blessed be the Lord God, even the Lord God of Israel, which only does wondrous and gracious things.
And blessed be the name of his Majesty for ever; and all the earth shall be filled with his majesty. Amen. Amen. Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c.
A Prayer to be said on the Feast of Christmas, or the Birth of our blessed Savior Jesus; the same, also, may be said upon the Feast of the Annunciation and Purification of the B. Virgin Mary.
O holy and almighty God, Father of mercies, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of your love and eternal mercies, I adore, and praise, and glorify your infinite and unspeakable love and wisdom, who have sent your Son from the bosom of felicities to take upon him our nature, and our misery, and our guilt, and have made the Son of God to become the Son of man, that we might become the sons of God, and partakers of the Divine nature; since you have so exalted human nature, be pleased also to sanctify my person, that, by a conformity to the humility, and laws, and sufferings of my dearest Savior, I may be united to his Spirit, and be made all one with the most holy Jesus. Amen.
O holy and eternal Jesus, who did pity mankind lying in his blood, and sin, and misery, and did choose our sadnesses and sorrows, that you might make us to partake of your feli cities; let your eyes pity me, your hands support me, your holy feet tread down all the difficulties in my way to heaven; let me dwell in your heart, be instructed with your wisdom, moved by your affections, choose with your will, and be clothed with your righteousness; that, in the day of judgment, I may be
found having on your garments, sealed with your impression; and that, bearing upon every faculty and member the character of my elder Brother, I may not be cast out with strangers and unbelievers. Amen.
O holy and ever-blessed Spirit, who did overshadow the holy virgin-mother of our Lord, and caused her to conceive by a miraculous and mysterious manner; be pleased to over shadow my soul, and enlighten my spirit, that I may conceive the holy Jesus in my heart, and may bear him in my mind, and may grow up to the fulness of the stature of Christ, to be a perfect man in Christ Jesus. Amen.
To God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the eternal Son, that was incarnate and born of a virgin, to the Spirit of the Father and the Son, be all honor and glory, worship and adoration, now and for ever. Amen.
[The same form of prayer may be used upon our own birth day, or day of our baptism; adding the following prayer.]
A Prayer to be said upon our Birth-day, or Day of Baptism.
O blessed and eternal God, I give you praise and glory for your great mercy to me, in causing me to be born of Christian parents, and did not allot to me a portion with misbelievers and heathen that have not known you. You did not suffer me to be strangled at the gate of the womb, but your hand sustained and brought me to the light of the world, and the illumination of baptism, with your grace preventing my election, and by an artificial necessity and holy prevention engaging me to the profession and practices of Christianity. Lord, since that I have broken the promises made in my behalf, and which I confirmed by my after- act: I went back from them by an evil life; and yet you have still continued to me life and time of repentance; and did not cut me off in the beginning of my days, and the progress of my sins. O dearest God, pardon the errors and ignorances, the vices and vanities, of my youth, and the faults of my more forward years, and let me never more stain the whiteness of my baptismal robe; and now that by your grace I still persist in the purposes of obedience, and do give up my name to Christ, and glory to be a disciple of your institution, and a servant of Jesus, let me never fail of your grace; let no root of bitterness spring up, and disorder my purposes, and defile my spirit. O let my
years be so many degrees of nearer approach to you; and forsake me not, O God, in my old age, when I am gray-headed; and when my strength fails me, be you my strength and my guide to death; that I may reckon my years, and apply my heart to wisdom; and at last, after spending a holy and a blessed life, I may be brought to a glorious eternity, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
[Then add the form of thanksgiving formerly described.]
A Prayer to be said upon the Days of the Memory of
Apostles, Martyrs, fyc.
O eternal God, to whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord, and in whom the souls of them that be elected, after they be delivered from the burden of the flesh, be in peace and rest from their labors, and their works fol low them, and their memory is blessed; I bless and magnify your holy and ever-glorious name, for the great grace and blessing manifested to your apostles and martyrs, and other holy persons, who have glorified your name in the days of their flesh, and have served the interest of religion and of your ser vice: and this day we have your servant [name the apostle or martyr, &c.] in remembrance, whom you have led througli the troubles and temptations of this world, and now have lodged in the bosom of a certain hope and great beatitude, until the day of restitution of all things. Blessed be the mercy and eternal goodness of God; and the memory of all your saints is blessed. Teach me to practice their doctrine, to imitate their lives, following their example, and being united as a part of the same mystical body by the band of the same faith, and a holy hope, and a never-ceasing charity. And may it please you, of your gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish the number of your elect, and to hasten your kingdom, that we, with your servant and all others departed in the true faith and fear of your holy name, may have x>ur perfect con summation and bliss, in body and soul, in your eternal and everlasting kingdom. Amen.
A Form of Prayer recording all the parts and mysteries of Christ's Passion, being a short history of it: to be used especially in the Week of the Passion, and before the receiving the blessed Sacrament. All praise, honor, and glory be to the holy and eternal
Jesus. I adore you, 0 blessed Redeemer, eternal God, the light of the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel; for you have done and suffered for me more than I could wish; more than I could think of; even all that a lost and a miserable perishing sinner could possibly need.
You were afflicted with thirst and hunger, with heat and cold, with labors and sorrows, with hard journeys and restless nights; and when you were contriving all the mysterious and admirable ways of paying our scores, you did suffer yourself to be designed to slaughter by those for whom, in love, you were ready to die.
" What is man, that you are mindful of him; and the son of man, that you thus visit him?"
Blessed be your name, O holy Jesus; for you went about doing good, working miracles of mercy, healing the sick, comforting the distressed, instructing the ignorant, raising the dead, enlightening the blind, strengthening the lame, straight ening the crooked, relieving the poor, preaching the gospel, and reconciling sinners by the mightiness of your power, by the wisdom of your Spirit, by the word of God, and the merits of your passion, your healthful and bitter passion.
" Lord, what is man, that you are mindful of him," &c.
Blessed be your name, O holy Jesus, who were content to be conspired against by the Jews, to be sold by your servant for a vile price, and to wash the feet of him that took money for your life, and to give to him and to all your apostles your most holy body and blood, to become a sacrifice for their sins, even for their betraying and denying you; and for all my sins, even for my crucifying you afresh, and for such sins, which I am ashamed to think, but that the greatness of my sins magnify the infmiteness of your mercies, who did so great things for so vile a person.
" Lord, what is man," &c.
Blessed be your name, O holy Jesus, who, being to depart the world, did comfort your apostles, pouring out into their ears and hearts treasures of admirable discourses; who did recommend them to your Father with a mighty charity, and then did enter into the garden set with nothing but briers and sorrows, where you did suffer a most unspeakable agony, until the sweat strained through your pure skin like drops of blood, and there did sigh and groan, and fall flat upon the
earth, arid pray, and submit to the intolerable burden of your Father's wrath, which I had deserved, and you sufferedst.
" Lord, what is man," &c.
Blessed be your name, O holy Jesus, who have sanctified to us all our natural infirmities and passions, by vouchsafing to be in fear and trembling, and sore amazement, by being bound and imprisoned, by being harassed and dragged with cords of violence and rude hands, by being drenched in the brook in the way, by being sought after like a thief, and. used like a sinner, who were the most holy and the most innocent, cleaner than an angel, and brighter than the morning star.
"Lord, what is man," &c.
Blessed be your name, 0 holy Jesus, and blessed be your loving-kindness and pity, by which you did neglect your own sorrows, and go to comfort the sadness of your disciples, quick ening their dulness, encouraging their duty, arming their weakness with excellent precepts against the day of trial. Blessed be that humility and sorrow of yours, who, being Lord of the angels, yet would need and receive comfort from your servant the angel; who did offer yourself to your persecutors, and made them able to seize you; and did receive the traitor's kiss, and sufferedst a veil to be thrown over your holy face that your enemies might not presently be confounded by so bright a lustre; and would do a miracle to cure a wound of one of your spiteful enemies; and did re prove a zealous servant in behalf of a malicious adversary; and then did go like a lamb to the slaughter, without noise, or violence, or resistance, when you could have commanded millions of angels for your guard and rescue.
" Lord, what is man," &c.
Blessed be your name, 0 holy Jesus, and blessed be that holy sorrow you did suffer, when your disciples fled, and you were left alone in the hands of cruel men, who, like evening wolves, thirsted for a draught of your best blood: and you were led to the house of Annas, and there asked insnaring questions, and smitten on the face by him whose ear you had but lately healed; and from thence were dragged to the house of Caiaphas; and there all night did endure spittings, affronts, scorn, contumelies, blows, and intolerable insolences, and all this for man, who was your enemy, and the cause of all your sorrows.
" Lord, what is man," &c.
Blessed be your name, O holy Jesus, and blessed be your mercy, who, when your servant Peter denied you, and forsook you, and forswore you, did look back upon him, and by that gracious and chiding look did call him back to himself and you; who were accused before the high priest, and railed upon, and examined to evil purposes, and with designs of blood; who were declared guilty of death for speaking a most necessary and most profitable truth; who were sent to Pilate and found innocent, and sent to Herod and still found innocent, and were arrayed in white, both to declare your innocence, and yet to deride your person, and were sent back to Pilate, and examined again, and yet nothing but innocence found in you, and malice round about you to devour your life, Avhich yet you were more desirous to lay down for them than they were to take it from you.
" Lord, what is man," &c.
Blessed be your name, O holy Jesus, and blessed be that patience and charity, by which for our sakes you were content to be smitten with canes, and have that holy face, which angels with joy and wonder do behold, be spit upon and be despised, when compared with Barabbas, and scourged most rudely with unhallowed hands, till the pavement was purpled with that holy blood, and condemned to a sad and shameful, a public and painful death, and arrayed in scarlet, and crowned with thorns and stripped naked, and then clothed, and loaden with the cross, and tormented with a tablet stuck with nails at the fringes of your garment, and bound hard with cords, and dragged most vilely and most piteously till the load was too great, and did sink your tender and virginal body to the earth; and yet did comfort the weeping women, and did more pity your persecutors than yourself, and were grieved for the miseries of Jerusalem to come forty years after, more than for your present passion.
" Lord, what is man," &c.
Blessed be your name, O holy Jesus, and blessed be that in comparable sweetness and holy sorrow which you sufferedst, when your holy hands and feet were nailed upon the cross, and the cross, being set in a hollowness of the earth, did in the fall rend the wounds wider, and there naked and bleeding, sick and faint, wounded and despised, did hang upon the weight of your wounds three long hours, praying for your persecutors, satis-
fyin" your Father's wrath, reconciling the penitent thief, providin" for your holy and afflicted mother, tasting vinegar and o-all;&and when the fulness of your suffering was accomplished, did give your soul into the hands of God, and did descend to the regions of longing souls, who waited for the revelation of this your day in their prisons of hope: and then your body was transfixed with a spear, and issued forth two sacraments, water and blood, and your body was composed to burial, and dwelt in darkness three days and three nights.
"Lord, what is man, that you are mindful of him, and the son of man, that you thus visit him?"
The Prayer.
Thus, O blessed Jesu, you did finish your holy passion with pain and anguish so great, that nothing could be greater than it, except yourself and your own infinite mercy: and all this for man, even for me, than whom nothing could be more miserable, yourself only excepted, who became so by undertaking our guilt and our punishment. And now, Lord, who have done so much for me, be pleased only to make it effectual to me, that it may not be useless and lost as to my particular, lest I become eternally miserable, and lost to all hopes and possibilities of comfort. All this deserves more love than I have to give: but, Lord, do you turn me all into love, and all my love into obedience, and let my obedience be without interruption, and then I hope you will accept such a return as I can make. Make me to be something that you delight in, and you shall have all that I am or have from you, even whatso ever you make fit for yourself. Teach me to live wholly for my Savior Jesus, and to be ready to die for Jesus, and to be conformable to his life and sufferings, and to be united to him by inseparable unions, and to own no passions but what may be servants to Jesus and disciples of his institution. O sweetest Savior, clothe my soul with your holy robe; hide my sins in your wounds, and bury them in your grave; and let me rise in the life of grace, and abide and grow in it, till I arrive at the kingdom of glory. Amen. " Our Father," &c.
Ad Sect. 7, 8, 10.] A Form of Prayer or Intercession for all Estates of People in the Christian Church. The parts of which may be added to any other forms; and the whole
office, entirely as it lies, is proper to be said in our preparation to the Holy Sacrament, or on the day of celebration.
1. For ourselves.
O you gracious Father of mercy, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon your servants., who bow our heads, and our knees, and our hearts to you: pardon and forgive us all our sins: give us the grace of holy repentance, and a strict obedience to your holy word: strengthen us in the inner man with the power of the Holy Ghost for all the parts and duties of our calling and holy living: preserve us for ever in the unity of the holy catholic church, and in the integrity of the Christian faith, and in the love of God and of our neighbors, and in hope of life eternal. Amen.
2. For the whole Catholic Church.
O holy Jesus, King of the saints, and Prince of the catholic church, preserve your spouse, whom you have purchased with your right hand, and redeemed and cleansed with your blood; the whole catholic church, from one end of the earth to the other; she is founded upon a rock, but planted in the sea. 0, preserve her safe from schism, heresy, and sacrilege! Unite all her members with the bands of faith, hope, and charity, and an external communion, when it shall seem good in your eyes. Let the daily sacrifice of prayer and sacramental thanks giving never cease, but be for ever presented to you, and for ever united to the intercession of her dearest Lord, and for ever prevail for the obtaining for every of its members grace and blessing, pardon and salvation. Amen.
3. For all Christian Kings, Princes, and Governors.
O King of kings, and Prince of all the rulers of the earth, give your grace and Spirit to all Christian princes, the spirit of wisdom and counsel, the spirit of government and godly fear. Grant to them to live in peace and honor, that their people may love and fear them, and they may love and fear God. Speak good to their hearts concerning the church, that they may be nursing fathers to it, fathers to the fatherless, judges and avengers of the cause of widows: that they may be com passionate to the wants of the poor, and the groans of the op pressed; that they may not vex or kill the Lord's people with unjust or ambitious wars, but may feed the flock of God, and may inquire after and do all things which may promote peace,
public honesty, and holy religion; so administering tilings present that they may not fail of the everlasting glories of the world to come, where all your faithful people shall reign kings for ever. Amen.
4. For all the Orders of them that minister about Holy Things.
O you great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, holy and eternal Jesus, give to your servants the ministers of the mysteries of Christian religion the spirit of prudence and sanctity, faith and charity, confidence and zeal, diligence and watchfulness, that they may declare your will to the people faithfully, and dispense your sacraments rightly, and intercede with you graciously and acceptably for your servants. Grant, O Lord, that by a holy life and true belief, by well doing and patient suffering, (when you shall call them to it,) they may glorify you, the great lover of souls, and, after a plentiful conversion of sinners from the error of their ways, they may shine like the stars in glory. Amen.
Give to your servants, the bishops, a discerning spirit, that they may lay hands suddenly on no man, but may depute such persons to the ministries of religion who may adorn the gospel of God, and whose lips may preserve knowledge, and such who by their good preaching and holy living may advance the service of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
5. For our nearest Relatives, as Husband, Wife, Children, Family, fyc.
O God of infinite mercy, let your loving mercy and compassion descend upon the head of your servants \jny wife, or hus band, children, and family~\: be pleased to give them health of body and of spirit, a competent portion of temporals, so as may with comfort support them in their journey to heaven: preserve them from all evil and sad accidents, defend them in all assaults of their enemies, direct their persons and their actions, sanctify their hearts, and words, and purposes; that we all may, by the bands of obedience and charity, be united to our Lord Jesus, and, always feeling you our merciful and gracious Father, may become a holy family, discharging our whole duty in all our relations; that we in this life being your children by adoption and grace, may be admitted into your holy family hereafter, for ever to sing praises to you in the church of the firstborn, in the family of your redeemed ones. Amen.
6. For our Parents, our Kindred in the Flesh, our Friends
and Benefactors.
O God, merciful and gracious, who have made \_rny parents~\ my friends and my benefactors ministers of your mercy, and instruments of providence to your servant, I humbly beg a blessing to descend upon the heads of [name the persons or the relations']. Depute your holy angels to guard their persons, your Holy Spirit to guide their souls, your providence to minis ter to their necessities; and let your grace and mercy preserve them from the bitter pains of eternal death, and bring them to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
7. For all that lie under the Rod of War, Famine, Pestilence: to be said in the Time of Plague, or War, fyc.
O Lord God almighty, you are our Father, we are your children; you are our Redeemer, we your people, purchased with the price of your most precious blood: be pleased to moderate your anger towards your servants; let not your whole displeasure arise, lest we be consumed and brought to nothing. Let health and peace be within our dwellings; let righteousness and ho liness dwell for ever in our hearts, and be expressed in all our actions, and the light of your countenance be upon us in all our sufferings, that we may delight in the service and in the mer cies of God for ever. Amen.
O gracious Father and merciful God, if it be your will, say to the destroying angel, " It is enough;" and though we are not better than our brethren who are smitten with the rod of God, but much worse, yet may it please you, even because you are good, and because we are timorous and sinful, not yet fitted for our appearance, to set your mark upon our fore heads, that your angel, the minister of your justice, may pass over us, and hurt us not; let your hand cover your servants and hide us in the clefts of the rock, in the wounds of the holy Jesus, from the present anger, that is gone out against us; that though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we may fear no evil, and suffer none; and those whom you have smitten with your rod, support with your staff, and visit them with your mercies and salvation, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
8. For all Women ivith Child, and for unborn Children. O Lord God, who are the Father of them that trust in you,
and show mercy to a thousand generations of them that fear you; have mercy upon all women great with child; be pleased to give them a joyful and a safe deliverance: and let your grace preserve the fruit of their wombs, and conduct them to the holy sacrament of baptism; that they, being regenerated by your Spirit, and adopted into your family, and the portion and duty of sons, may live to the glory of God, to the comfort of their parents and friends, to the edification of the Christian commonwealth, and the salvation of their own souls, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
9. For all Estates of Men and Women in the Christian Church.
O holy God, King eternal, out of the infinite storehouses of your grace and mercy, give to all virgins chastity and a religious spirit; to all persons dedicated to you and to religion, continence and meekness, and active zeal, and an unwearied spirit; to all married pairs, faith and holiness; to widows and fatherless, and all that are oppressed, your patronage, comfort, and defense; to all Christian women, simplicity and modesty, humility and chastity, patience and charity; give to the poor, to all that are robbed and spoiled of their goods, a competent support, and a contented spirit, and a treasure in heaven hereafter; give to prisoners and captives, to them that toil in the mines, and row in the galleys, strength of body and of spirit, liberty and redemption, comfort and restitution; to all that travel by land, your angel for their guide, and a holy and prosperous return; to all that travel by sea, freedom from pirates and shipwreck, and bring them to the haven where they would be; to distressed and scrupulous consciences, to melancholy and disconsolate persons, to all that are afflicted with evil and unclean spirits, give a light from heaven, great grace, and proportionable comforts and timely deliverance; give them patience and resignation; let their sorrows be changed into grace and comfort, and let the storm waft them certainly to the regions of rest and glory.
Lord God of mercy, give to your martyrs, confessors, and all your persecuted, constancy and prudence, boldness and hope, a full faith, and a never-failing charity. To all who are condemned to death, do you minister comfort, a strong, a quiet, and a resigned spirit; take from them the fear of death, and all remaining affections to sin, and all imperfections of duty,
and cause them to die full of grace, full of hope. And give to all faithful, and particularly to them who have recommended themselves to the prayers of your unworthy servant, a supply of all their needs temporal and spiritual, and according to their several states and necessities, rest and peace, pardon and refreshment; and show us all a mercy in the day of judgment. Amen.
Give, O Lord, to the magistrates, equity, sincerity, courage, and prudence, that they may protect the good, defend religion, and punish the wrong-doers. Give to the nobility, wisdom, valor, and loyalty; to merchants, justice and faithfulness; to all artificers and laborers, truth and honesty; to our enemies, forgiveness and brotherly kindness.
Preserve to us the heavens and the air in healthful influence and disposition, the earth in plenty, the kingdom in peace and good government, our marriages in peace, and sweetness, and innocence of society, your people from famine and pestilence, our houses from burning and robbery, our persons from being burnt alive, from banishment and prison, from widowhood and destitution, from violence of pains and passions, from tempests and earthquakes, from inundation of waters, from rebellion or invasion, from impatience and inordinate cares, from tediousness of spirit and despair, from murder, and all violent, ac cursed, and unusual deaths, from the surprise of sudden and violent accidents, from passionate and unreasonable fears; from all your wrath, and from all our sins, good Lord, deliver and preserve your servants for ever. Amen.
Repress the violence of all implacable, warring, and tyrant nations; bring home to your fold all that are gone astray; call into the church all strangers; increase the number and holiness of your own people; bring infants to ripeness of age and reason; confirm all baptized people with your grace and with your Spirit; instruct the novices and new Christians; let a great grace and merciful providence bring youthful persons safely and holily through the indiscretions, and passions, and temptations of their younger years; and to those whom you have or shall permit to live to the age of a man, give competent strength and wisdom; take from them covetousness and churlishness, pride and impatience; fill them full of devotion and charity, repentance and sobriety, holy thoughts and longing desires after heaven and heavenly things; give them a holy and a blessed death, and to us all a joyful resurrection, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Ad Sect, 10.] The Manner of using these Devotions by way of Preparation to the receiving the blessed Sacrament of t/i£ Lord's Supper.
The just preparation to this holy feast, consisting principally in a holy life, and, consequently, in the repetition of the acts of all virtues, and especially of faith, repentance, charity, and thanksgiving; to the exercise of these four graces, let the person that intends to communicate, in the times set apart for his preparation and devotion, for the exercise of his faith recite the prayer or litany of the passion; for the exercise of repentance, the form of confession of sins with the prayer annexed; and for the graces of thanksgiving and charity, let him use the special forms of prayer above described. Or if a less time can be allotted for preparatory devotion, the two first will be the more proper, as containing in them all the personal duty of the communicant. To which, upon the morning of that holy solemnity, let him add,
A Prayer of Preparation or Address to the Holy Sacrament.
An Act of Love.
O most gracious and eternal God, the helper of the helpless, the comforter of the comfortless, the hope of the afflicted, the bread of the hungry, the drink of the thirsty, and the Sa viour of all them that wait upon you; I bless and glorify your name, and adore your goodness, and delight in your love, that you have once more given me the opportunity of receiving the greatest favor which I can receive in this world, even the body and blood of my dearest Savior. O take from me all affection to sin or vanity; let not my affections dwell below, but soar upwards to the element of love, to the seat of God, to the regions of glory, and the inheritance of Jesus: that I may hunger and thirst for the bread of life, and the wine of elect souls, and may know no loves but the love of God, and the most merciful Jesus. Amen.
An Act of Desire.
O blessed Jesus, you have used many arts to save me, you have given your life to redeem me, your Holy Spirit to sanctify me, yourself for my example, your word for my rule, your grace for my guide, the fruit of your body hanging on the tree of the cross for the sin of my soul; and, after all this, you have sent
your apostles and ministers of salvation to call me, to importune me, to constrain me to holiness, and peace, and felicity. O now come, Lord Jesus, come quickly; my heart is desirous of your presence and thirsty of your grace, and would fain entertain you, not as a guest, but as an inhabitant, as the Lord of all my faculties. Enter in and take possession, and dwell with me for ever; that I also may dwell in the heart of my dearest Lord, which was opened for me with a spear and love.
An Act of Contrition.
Lord, you shall find my heart full of cares and worldly desires, cheated with love of riches, and neglect of holy things, proud and unmortified, false and crafty to deceive itself, intricated and entangled with difficult cases of conscience, with knots which my own wildness and inconsideration and impatience have tied and shuffled together. O my dearest Lord, if you can behold such an impure seat, behold the place to which you are invited is full of passion and prejudice, evil principles and evil habits, peevish and disobedient, lustful and intemperate, and full of sad remembrances, that I have often provoked to jealousy and to anger you my God, my dearest Savior, him that died for me, him that suffered torments for me, that is infinitely good to me, and infinitely good and perfect in himself. This, O dearest Savior, is a sad truth, and I am heartily ashamed, and truly sorrowful for it, and do deeply hate all my sins, and am full of indignation against myself for so unworthy, so careless, so continued, so great a folly; and humbly beg of you to increase my sorrow, and my care, and my hatred against sin; and make my love to you swell up to a great grace, and then to glory and immensity.
An Act of Faith.
This indeed is my condition: but I know, O blessed Jesus, that you did take upon you my nature that you might suffer for my sins, and you did suffer to deliver me from them and from your Father's wrath; and I was delivered from this wrath, that I might serve you in holiness and righteousness all my days. Lord, I am as sure you did the great work of redemption for me and all mankind, as that I am alive. This is my hope, the strength of my spirit, my joy, and my confidence; and do you never let the spirit of unbe-
lief enter into me and take me from this rock. Here I will dwell, for I have a delight in it; here I will live, and here I desire to die.
The Petition.
Therefore, O blessed Jesu, who are my Savior and my God, whose body is my food, and your righteousness is my robe, you are the priest and the sacrifice, the master of the feast and the least itself, the physician of my soul, the light of my eyes, the purifier of my stains: enter into my heart, and cast out from thence all impurities, all the remains of the old man; and grant I may partake of this holy sacrament with much reverence, and holy relish, and great effect, receiving hence the communication of your holy body and blood, for the establishment of an unreprovable faith, of an unfeigned love, for the fulness of wisdom, for the healing my soul, for the blessing and preservation of my body, for the taking out the sting of temporal death, and for the assurance of a holy resurrection; for the ejection of all evil from within me, and the fulfilling all your righteous commandments; and to procure for me a mercy and a fair reception at the day of judgment, through your mercies, O holy and ever-blessed Savior Jesus. Amen.
[Here also may be added the prayer after receiving the cup.]
Ejaculations to be said before or at the receiving the Holy
Sacrament.
Like as the hart desires the water-brooks, so longs my soul after you, O God. My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God: when shall I come before the presence of God? Psal. xlii. 1, 2.
O Lord my God, great are your wondrous works which you have done; like as be also your thoughts, which are to us-ward: and yet there is no man that orders them to you. Psal. xl. 6.
0 send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill, and to your dwelling; and that I may go to the altar of God, even to the God of my joy and gladness; and with my heart will I give thanks to you, O God my God. Psal. xliii. 3, 4.
1 will wash my hands in innocence, O Lord, and so will I go to your altar: that I may show the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all your wondrous works. Psal. xxvi. 6, 7.
Examine me, O Lord, and prove me, try tliou my reins and my heart. For your loving-kindness is now and ever before my eyes: and I will walk in your truth. Ver. 2, 3.
You shall prepare a table before me against them that trouble me: you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full. But your loving-kindness and mercy shall fol low me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Psal. xxiii. 5, 6.
This is the bread that comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. John vi. 50.
Whoso eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me and I in him, and has eternal life abiding in him; and I will raise him up at the last day. Ver. 54, 56.
Lord, whither shall we go but to you? you have the words of eternal life. John vi. 68.
If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. John vii. 37.
The bread which we break, is it not the communication of the body of Christ? and the cup which we drink, is it not the communication of the blood of Christ? 1 Cor. x. 16.
What are those wounds in your hands? They are those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Zech. xiii. 6.
Immediately before the receiving,, say,
Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. But do you speak the word only, and your servant shall be healed. Matt. viii. 8.
Lord, open you my lips, and my mouth shall show your praise. O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me.
Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.
After receiving the consecrated and blessed Bread, say, O taste and see how gracious the Lord is: blessed is the man that trusts in him. The beasts do lack and suffer hun ger; but they which seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good. Lord, what am I, that my Savior should become my food; that the Son of God should be the meat of worms, of dust and ashes, of a sinner, of him that was his enemy? But this you have done to me, because you are infinitely good and wonderfully gracious, and love to bless
every one of us, in turning us from the evil of our ways. Enter into me, blessed Jesus: let no root of bitterness spring up in my heart; but be you Lord of all my faculties. O let me feed on you by faith, and grow up by the increase of God to a perfect man in Christ Jesus. Amen. Lord, I believe: help mine unbelief.
Glory be to God the Father, Son, &c.
After the receiving the Cup of Blessing.
It is finished. Blessed be the mercies of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ. O blessed and eternal High Priest, let the sacrifice of the cross, which you did once offer for the sins of the whole world, and which you do now and always represent in heaven to your Father by your never-ceasing inter cession, and which this day has been exhibited on your holy table sacramentally, obtain mercy and peace, faith and charity, safety and establishment to your holy church, which you have founded upon a rock, the rock of a holy faith; and let not the gates of hell prevail against her, nor the enemy of man kind take any soul out of your hand, whom you have pur chased with your blood, and sanctified by your Spirit. Preserve all your people from heresy and division of spirit, from scandal and the spirit of delusion, from sacrilege and hurtful persecutions. You, O blessed Jesus, did die for us; keep me for ever in holy living, from sin and sinful shame, in the communion of your church, and your church in safety and grace, in truth and peace, to your second coming. Amen.
Dearest Jesu, since you are pleased to enter into me, O be jealous of your house and the place where your honor dwells: suffer no unclean spirit or unholy thought to come near your dwelling, lest it defile the ground where your holy feet have trod. O teach me so to walk, that I may never disrepute the honor of my religion, nor stain the holy robe which you have now put upon my soul, nor break my holy vows, which I have made, and you have sealed, nor lose my right of inheritance, my privilege of being co-heir with Jesus, into the hope of which I have now further entered: but be you pleased to love me with the love of a father, and a brother, and a husband, and a lord; and make me to serve you in the communion of saints, in receiving the sacrament, in the practice of all holy virtues, in the imitation of your life, and conformity
to your sufferings: that I, having now put on the Lord Jesus, may marry his loves and his enmities, may desire his glory, and may obey his laws, and be united to his Spirit, and in the day of the Lord I may be found having on the wedding garment, and bearing in my body and soul the marks of the Lord Jesus, that I may enter into the joy of my Lord, and par take of his glories for ever and ever. Amen.
Ejaculations to be used any time that Day after the Solemnity is ended.
Lord, if I had lived innocently, I could not have deserved to receive the crumbs that fall from your table. How great is your mercy, who have feasted me with the bread of virgins, with the wine of angels, with manna from heaven!
O when I shall pass from this dark glass, from this veil of sacraments, to the vision of your eternal charity; from eating your body, to beholding your face in your eternal kingdom?
Let not my sins crucify the Lord of life again: let it never be said concerning me, " The hand of him that betrays me is with me on the table."
Oh that I might love you as well as ever any creature loved you! Let me think nothing but you, desire nothing but you, enjoy nothing but you.
O Jesus, be a Jesus to me. You are all things to me. Let nothing ever please me but what savors of you and your miraculous sweetness.
Blessed be the mercies of our Lord, who of God is made to me wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.
" He that glories, let him glory in the Lord." Amen.