ginations, my hands from all impure actions, my heart from all vain affections, my senses from all sinful delights and desires: so that thou, my soul, being purged by true repentance, I shall, both body and soul, be cleansed in his blood, and made partaker of all those glorious fruits which Christ hath given me in this food of life.

6. O blessed Jesus, what madness then is it to set my affections upon the perishable things of this world, who may attain the joys even of eternal life by knowing thee! The hour is come, O Jesus, wean me from the world, and secure me wholly unto thyself, and give me this life eternal to know and glorify thee. Make me sensible that it is my interest, as well as duty, to walk always before thee, and be always mindful of thy presence with me. Let it be my meat and drink to do thy holy will, and my only joy to glorify thy

name.

Here observe the directions given on page 8, and more particularly endeavour to improve your soul by reading a lesson out of the NEW WHOLE DUTY OF MAN, Sunday 6.

A prayer on Thursday Evening to implore God's mercy and assistance towards a worthy receiving of the most Holy Sacrament.

Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Heb. x. 22.

GRANT, almighty and most merciful

Lord God, that I may never draw down thy just indignation upon myself, either by turning my back upon this ordinance, or by going to it without thought and unworthily. May thy mercy pardon what is past, and give me grace for the time to come to consecrate my life to thee, and to embrace every occasion of remembering my Redeemer's love, and thereby securing thy favour, and my own salvation; and if it be thy will, grant that I may always find such comfort and benefit in this ordinance, as may encourage me to observe it with joy unto my life's end.

Blessed be thy name, holy Father, for the opportunity thou hast vouchsafed me of humbling myself before thee. Pardon, I most humbly beseech thee, all my failings and defects at this time: the wanderings of my prayers, the coldness of my affections, and the disproportion of my repentance to the heinousness of those sins which I have committed. O let thy mercy and goodness supply what is wanting in me, and be thou graciously pleased to pity my weaknesses,

and forgive my infirmities, through the merits, and for the sake of thy beloved Son, and my blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ the righteous; to whom with thee, and the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all honour and glory now and for evermore. Amen.

See the concluding prayer and blessing on pages 38 and 39.

THE MEDITATION FOR FRIDAY MORNING*,

On the passion of our blessed Saviour, commemorated in the most Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Phil. ii. 8.

1.

I

PROPOSE now unto thee, O my soul, that thou mayest give me comfort by a devout meditation on the sufferings of our wounded Jesus, which were the wonder and astonishment of heaven and earth! and thence learn of thy Saviour to be meek and lowly in heart; who, being the great Lord of the world, condescended with the profoundest humility to undergo the punishment of slaves.

2. Behold with what patience this innocent

*Here you may observe the directions given on page 3.

lamb yields to have his body ploughed and furrowed by merciless murderers! behold him naked, helpless, and unpitied, whilst the furious executioners tear his skin and tender flesh with cruel scourges, to satisfy the cruelty of a barbarous multitude.

3. Behold this same blessed Jesus extended, tortured, and nailed, and rudely hoisted up upon the cross between two thieves, where he hung for the space of three long hours, [reviled by the Jews, and railed at by the very thieves,] in pain, dolour, in grief, and shame; all his bones disjointed, and his wounds stretched and rent the wider by the weight of his body hanging on the nails; and all this for man, even for thee, my soul, a miserable sinner!

4. Behold those powerful hands, which so lately cured the blind and deaf, cleansed the lepers, and loosed them that were bound by Satan, extended in misery! behold those adorable feet pierced with nails, which had gone about doing good continually!

5. Behold that sacred body hanging upon the cross, hungry and thirsty, naked and cold, wounded and rent, weeping and bleeding, racked and tortured, languishing, praying, and sacrificing itself, and exposed to all manner of shame and torment for thee, in which all the treasures of wisdom and power were hid! and let that vinegar and gall given unto him quench all immoderate appetites in

thee, and imbitter all sensual delights. Behold that face, more beautiful than the sons of men, which comforted the afflicted, and the light of whose countenance the fathers and prophets had so much desired to behold, changed into the paleness and horror of death; crying to his Father, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me! and then giving up the ghost.

6. Oh! how great in mercy, how abundant in compassion was the Son of God thus to die for thee! how great in majesty, how terrible in power! for now did the heavens wax dark, the veil of the temple rent asunder, the very stones clave, and the dead arose! How great was his power in his death, to produce such wonders by it, in it, and after it! how far did his merits and power extend! even to the sun in the heavens, to the veil in the temple, to the holy of holies, the dead in the graves, to the centre of the earth, to hell beneath; yea, to the very hearts of the impenitent: for the centurion was now convinced of his error and converted.

7. Oh! I will flee to the cross of my Saviour, and there, with the pious, devout, and afflicted women, and his beloved disciple St. John, I will open the flood-gate of mine eyes, I will water my couch with tears, I will bring my body into subjection,

E