§. 12. II Penitential Psalm, 25. unco Thee, O LORD, will I lift up my foul, m God, I have put my trust in Thee: O let me not b confounded, neither let mine enemies triumph over me For all they that hope in Thee fhall not be ashamed: bu fuch as tranfgrefs withont a cause shall be put to confufion Shew me thy ways, O LORD: and teach me thy paths Lead me forth in thy truth, and learn me: for Thou art the God of my falvation; in Thee hath been my hope all the day long. Call to remembrance, O LORD, thy tender mercies end thy loving kindneffes, which have been ever of old. Oh remember not the Sins and offences of my youth: but according to thy mercy think Thou upon me, O LORD, for thy goodness. Gracious and righteous is the LORD: therefore will He teach finners in the way. Them that are meek fhall He guide in judgment: and fuch as are gentle them fhall He learn his way. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth: unto fuch as keep his covenant and his teftimonies. For thy Names fake, O LORD: be merciful unto my fin, for it is great. What man is he that feareth the LORD: him fhall He teach in the way that he fhall chufe. His foul fhall dwell at eafe: and his feed fhall inherit the Land. The fecret of the LORD is among them that fear Him: and He will fhew them his covenant. Mine eyes are ever looking unto the LORD for He fhall pluck my feet out of the net. Trn, Thee unto me, and have mercy upon me: for I am defolate and in mifery. The forrows of my heart are inlarged : O bring Thou me out of my troubles. Look upon my adverfity and mifery: and forgive me all my fin. Confider mine enemies how many they are: and they bear a tyrannous hate against me. O keep my foul, and deliver me let me not be confounded, for I have put my trut in Thee. Let perfectnefs and righteous dealing wait upon me; for my hope hath been in Thee. Deliver Ifrael O God out of all his troubles. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning› is now, and ever fhall be world without end. Amen. §. 13. A Divine Colloquy between the Scul and her Savior, concerning th Effectual Merits of his dolorous Paffion. Soul. Soul. LORD, wherefore didft Thou wash thy Difciples feet? Chrift. To teach thee how thou shouldft prepare thy felf to come to my Supper. So. Lord why wouldft Thou wash them thy felf? Chr. To teach thee Humility, if thou wilt be my Difcipie. S. Lord, wherefore didft Thou, before thy Death, inftitute thy laft Supper? Ch. That thou mighteft the better Remember my Death, and be affured that all the Merits thereof are thine. S. Lord, why wouldst Thou go to fuch a Place where Judas knew to find Thee? Ch. That thou mightest know that I went as willingly to fuffer for thy Sin, as ever thou wenteft to any place to commit Sin. .. 14. A Prayer for Judging my felf aright. O Eternal and moft Glorious God, who fitteft in Heaven ruling over all things from the beginning; Thou dwelleft on High, and yet humbleft thy felf to behold the things that are in Heaven and Earth; Thou hast fearched me, a LORD, and known me, Thou understandeft my thoughts afar off, and art acquainted with all my ways; for there is not a word in my tongue but Thou, O LORD, knoweft it altogether. Be pleaf'd to impart unto thy fervant a ray of thy heavenly light, a beam of the Sun of Righteousnefs, open_mine eyes that I may fee the wondrous things of thy Law, that I may walk in them all my days: fet all my fits before my face; that I may speedily and earneftly, and perfectly repent, and forfake them all : Give me a fight of my Infir mities that I may watch against them; discover to me all my evil and weak Principles, that I may reform'em; and whatsoever is wanting in me towards the understanding of any thing whereby I may pleafe Thee, and perfect my Duty, I beg of Thee to reveal that alfo unto me; that my Duty may not be undifcern'd, and my Faith may not be reproved, and my Affections may not be perverfe, ard hardened in their foolish pursuance, and a fecret fin may not ly undiscover'd and corrupting my foul. Give me an ingenuous and severe fpirit, that whatever judgment of Charity I make concerning others, I may give a right judg ment concerning my own ftate and actions, condemning the Criminal, cenfuring the fuspicious, fufpecting what feems allowable, and be watchful even over the beft: that I may in the fpirit of repentance, and mortification, correct all my irregularities, and reform my errors, and im E prove prove the good things which Thou haft given me; that indeavoring to approve my Actions to my Confcience, and my Confcience to thy Law, I may not be a reprobate, but approved by Thee in the great Day of examination of all the World, and be reckon'd amongst thy Elect, the fecret ones, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen. To this Iadd the general Preparatory Prayer. 9.15.An Ejaculation abed,before I fleep. any night. LIGHTEN my Darkness, I befeech Thee, O Lord, and by thy great mercy defend me from all perils and dangers of this Night, for the love of thy only Son, our Sa vior Jefus Chrift. Amen, CHAP. V. TUESDAY, or the 5th. day before the Holy §. An Ejaculation before Irife, any day. Lord our heavenly Father, Almighty and Everlasting God, who hat fafely brought me to the beginning of this day; defend me in the fame by thy mighty power, and grant that this day I fall into no fin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all my doings may be order'd by thy govenance, to do always that is righteous in thy fight, thro' Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen. S. 2. III Argument for frequent Communion: FROM th' Inftitution of our Lord in Remembrance of his Dying Love. We are obliged to it in point of indifpenfable Duty, and in obedience to a plain Precept and most folemn Infti tution of our Bleffed Savior, that great Lawgiver, who is able to fave, and to deftroy, S. Fam, 4. 12. And S. Paul, who tells us he receiv'd it from the Lord, admonishes us to do it often, and to fuch as will not, our Lord may say as S. Luke 6. 46. Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I fay? and it we confider what He did for us, the Dying charge of our beft Friend wou'd tick with us, and make a strong impreffion upon our Minds: cfpecially if we add thofe other words of his, not long before his Death; Greater love hath no man than this, that a man ay down his life for his friends. S. John 15. 23. It is a won der derful Love which He has expreft to us who when we were enemies, were reconciled to God by his Death Rom. 5. 10. and worthy to be had in perpetual Remembrance and all that He expects from us by way of thankful acknowledg ment, is to celebrate the Remembrance of it by the fre quent participation of this bleffed Sacrament. And fhall this Charge, laid upon us by Him who lay down his Life for us, lay no obligation upon us to the folemn Remembrance of that unparellel'd Kindness, which is the Fountain of fo many Bleffings and Benefits to us? If He had commanded us fome very grievous thing, we ought with all the readiness and chearfulness in the world to have done it; how much more when He has impofed upon us fo ealy a Commandment, a thing of no burden, but of immenfe Benefit? when He has only faid to us, Eat, O friends, drink. O beloved! Cant. 5. 1. when He only invites us to his Table, to the best, and most delicious Feast that we can partake of on this fide Heaven? How wretched, how fad must be the cafe of that foul which neglects to fhow forth the Lord's Death in this Ordinance, when the Son of God fhall appear in all his Glory, and the Sinner, who neglected this holy Sacrament, fhall be brought be fore Him? it will not be an ordinary fright the wretch will be in; fpecially when the King of Glory fhall accoft and afk him, how canft thou hope to fhare in my Glory. to participate in my Happiness, to be advanced to my Throne, to enter into thy Masters joy, that didft not think my Death worth the Remembring in the Congregation of my Saints, that wouldt not weep at my bitter Paffion; who waft afhamed to look on Me hanging on the Crofs; that wou'dft not, by lively reprefentations of my Suffering, in the Sacrament I ordain'd, 'be melted in Tears? for a feat in th' Eternal Manfions, where no defiled thing muft enter, that wou'dft not cleanse thy felf from filthiness? or how cou'dft thou hope to be cleans'd, that wou'dft not make ufe of my Bloud often, to wash thy felf? Here none can be happy that were not holy upon earth; and how cou'dit thou expect to be holy, that didft neglect the Mcans which was intended to inrich thy foul with holiness? Such an Address of such a Majestick Perfon, and to an offender too, that knows, and can't but know that all this is true, muft neceffarily ftrike the Malefactor dumb, and fill him with E 2 with Horror. So that for any perfons that turn Penitents, and refolve to lead New lives, one of the best Rules that can be given, is to frequent this Sacrament. §. 3. Th' excellency of th' Ends and Fruits, is. First, TO keep us in a frequent and constant thankful Remembrance, and folemn Commemoration before God and Man, of the Death of Chrift, which was a Sacrifice and oblation once for all offered to his Father for us weak, finful men; and thereby He was then, (but now no more) our Aaronical Prieft, compleating and perfecting that whole work of Satisfaction for fin, to which all th' old Sacrifi ces for fin referred; and to confider, own, and publish his particular Quality and Relations to us. 1, As our King, to fet up his Throne in our Hearts, or to Reign in the fouls of Men, & to give evidence of his Power thro' the whole World. 2, As our prefent Melchizedekian Priest, to bless us in turning away every one of us from our Iniquities; and to Blefs and praife God for ever in Heaven, for his Goodnels, his mercy, his grace towards us poor fin ful enemies of his, in giving us the Victory over our fo bitter Adver faries, fin, and fatan, and death, and hell, by the bloud of the Lamb, and the power of his Grace. 3, As our Prophet, fignifying, expounding, or making known the will of God to us. And Chrift being a Union of all these three Offices, is a Jefus, or Savior finally to none but thofe who receive Him under all thefe three Offices uniformly into their hearts. Secondly, To renew our Baptismal Covenant, and bind our felves, as it were by an Oath of Fidelity to ferve th' only True God; and even to dy for Chrift rather than deny Him; and to admit no other Propitiatory Sacrifice for fins but that one real Sacrifice which by his Death upon the Crofs, Christ once offer'd to reconcile us to God, and by which He finifh'd the Sacrifice cf the Law, and effected eternal Redemptiom and Rightcousness for all Believers. And fo to remain for a Publick mark of Profeffion, to diftinguish Chriftians from all fects and falfe Religions. Thirdly, To confirm our Faith; for God by this Sacrament docs fignify and feal unto us from heaven, that, according to the Promife and New Covenant which He made in Chrift, He will truly receive unto his Grace and Mercy all penitent believers who duly receive this holy Sacrament; and that, for the Merits of the Paf |