THE MEDITATION FOR SATURDAY MORning.

Upon fasting before receiving the Holy Sacrament.

Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind, He that eateth, eateth to the Lord; for he giveth God thanks: and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. Rom. xiv. 5, 6.

1. MY soul! thou knowest that the flesh is weak, and easily surprised; too often carried about with every wind of doctrine: thou hast had many conflicts with me, but since thou hast brought me into subjection to the spirit, I am always ready to follow the dictates thereof. But, my soul! thou demandest one thing of me which is not spiritual, it is altogether corporal.

2. Thou requirest me to come fasting to the holy table of the supper of our Lord. If it be necessary to salvation, I will; but if ye consider the institution, nothing of that kind is necessary; for it was instituted after supper: nor has the church made any rule about it. Where, therefore, neither the laws of God, nor those of our superiors have obliged us, we must use our prudence, and do what we find best.

3. There are these things, O my soul! I

shall propose in this case; if you find that my fasting makes you more devout and serious, and that you are in a better frame of mind, you should certainly choose to go to the Sacrament fasting; or if it be indifferent, and you are much the same whether I fast or not, and find it makes no change at all in you, I would for decency, and with regard to ancient practice, accompany you to the Sacrament fasting.

4. But as I have by custom contracted such a habit of eating or drinking some light matter every morning, that you know I shall be uneasy or disordered without it; so I hope, you will permit me to do as I used to do, and that also, for your own sake, and to strengthen devotion; because the purposes of fasting (which are to raise the mind to God, and to put it into a better frame) are better answered by moderate refreshment, than by wholly abstaining. Yet, I say, that as neither God, nor the church, has appointed the contrary, I would advise the morning abstinence on sacrament days, where the inconveniency of doing it is none; but I must disapprove of it, if there be any inconveniency in abstaining.

5. And let us always remember, that whether we abstain or not, we do it without scruple in ourselves, and without censuring what another person does, though contrary to what we do. But let us do in this, and in

all other indifferent cases, what we believe will tend most to our own spiritual edification, without regard to what other people do ; for every one is to give an account of his own deeds.

The Hymn on Saturday Morning.

INDULGE, O God, my humble claim,
Thou art my hope, my joy, my rest;
The glories that compose thy name

Stand all engag'd to make me blest.

Thou great and good, thou just and wise,
Thou art my Father and my God;
And I am thine by sacred ties,

Thy son, thy servant, bought with blood.

With heart, and eyes, and lifted hands
For thee I long, to thee I look,
As travellers in thirsty lands

Pant for the cooling water-brook."

Nor fruits or wines that tempt our taste,
Nor all the joys our senses know,
Could make me so divinely blest,
Or raise my cheerful passions so.

My life itself without thy love

No taste of pleasure could afford; "Twould but a tiresome burden prove, If I were banish'd from the Lord.

Amid the wakeful hours of night,
When busy cares afflict my head,
One thought of thee gives new delight,
And adds refreshment to my bed.

I'll lift my hands, I raise my voice,
While I have breath to pray or praise;
This work shall make my heart rejoice,
And spend the remnant of my days.

ANOTHER.

BROAD is the road that leads to death,
And thousands walk together there;
But wisdom shows a narrower path,
With here and there a traveller.

Deny thyself and take thy cross,
Is the Redeemer's great command;
Mortals must count their gold but dross,
If they would gain this heavenly land.

The fearful soul that tires and faints,

And walks the ways of God no more, Is but esteem'd almost a saint,

And makes his own destruction sure.

Lord, let not all my hopes be vain,
Create my heart entirely new;
Which hypocrites could ne'er attain,
Which false apostates never knew.

The Prayer on Saturday Morning.

For obtaining abstinence as is necessary to subdue the flesh to the spirit.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, to whose good providence I ascribe my health and safety, and owe the enjoyment of the comfortable refreshment of the night past, and the avoidance of those evils which I have justly deserved; for these, O Lord, and for all thy other mercies, I desire to adore and bless thy glorious name, humbly beseeching thee to accept this my morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving in and through the merits and mediation of my dear Redeemer, who did fast forty days and forty nights, to teach us such abstinence as may subdue our flesh to the spirit, whereby we may ever obey thy godly motions; and for his sake, Ó Lord, I humbly beseech thee to pardon all my sins, and grant that a due sense of thy mercies may be so deeply impressed upon my mind, that I may love thee above all things.

Vouchsafe me the assistance of thy good spirit, to inure me by self-denial to bring my body into subjection, and to punish all those excesses I have been guilty of in the use of thy creatures; and to enable me to withstand the temptations of this wicked world, and