blush, O my soul, for shame, at so strange a weakness, and weep for grief at so extreme an ingratitude. We childishly preferred a trivial apple before the law of our God, and the safety of our souls: we fondly embraced a little needless satisfaction, before the pleasures of paradise, and the eternity of heaven.

Behold the unhappy source of all our miseries, which still increased its streams as they went further on, till they exacted at last a deluge of justice, to drown their deluge of ini quity and here, alas! had been an end of man, a sad and fatal end of the whole world, had not our wise creator foreseen the danger, and in mercy prevented the extremity of the ruin, reserving for himself a few choice plants to replenish the earth with more hopeful fruit: yet they grew quickly wild, and brought forth sour grapes, and their children's teeth were set on edge; quickly they aspired to an intolerable pride of fortifying their wickedness against the power of heaven, by building the Tower of Babel.

This rebellion provoked justice to a second deluge, and to bring again a cloud over the earth; but mercy discovered a bow in the cloud, and our faithful God, remembering his promise, allayed their punishment with a milder sen

tence, and only scattered them from the place of their conspiracy; which yet his providence turned into a blessing, by making it an occasion of peopling the world. Still their rebellious nature disobeyed again, and neither feared his judgments, nor valued his mercies; but with a graceless emulation propagated sin, as far as his goodness propagated mankind. Then he selected a private family, and increased and governed them with a particular tenderness, giving them a law by the hands of angels,and engaged their obedience by a thousand favours ; but they likewise neglected their God and heaven, and fell in love with the ways of death.

When thou hadst thus, O merciful Lord, used many remedies, and our disease was beyond their power to cure; when the light of nature proved too weak a guide, and the general flood too mild a correction; when the miracles of Moses could not soften their hearts, nor the law of angels bring any to perfection; when the whole was reduced to this desperate state, and no imaginable hope left to recover us; behold! thy eternal wisdom finds an amazing expedient, the last and the highest instance of almighty love; he resolves to clothe himself with our flesh and come down among us, and die to redeem us, and has left us the

blessed sacrament of his body and blood for a perpetual remembrance of the same.

Wonder, O my soul, at the mercies of the Lord! how infinitely do they transcend even our utmost wishes? wonder at the admirable providence of his counsels, that are exactly fitted to their great design! had our saviour been less than God, we could never have believed the sublime mysteries of his heavenly doctrine: had he been other than man, we must needs have wanted the powerful motive, of his holy example. Had he been only God, he could never have suffered the least of those afflictions, he so gloriously overcame: had he been merely man, he could never have overcome those infinite afflictions he so patiently endured. In thee, O blessed Saviour, the two natures of God and man were so mysteriously united, without either change or confusion, that they made in thee but one person, one mediator, one Lord.

The Prayer on Tuesday Morning, for God's mercy and grace in our preparation for the

sacrament.

O hide not thou thy face from me; nor cast thy servant away in displeasure. Thou hast been my succour; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. Psalm xxvii. 10, 11.

O Most glorious, most great, and eternal God! thou art the sovereign Lord of heaven

and earth, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

my

be

in whom I live, and move, and have ing, and from whom I derive all the comforts and conveniences of this life, and all my hopes and expectations of a better. O Lord! I acknowledge that I am not worthy to come into thy presence, nor to lift up mine eyes toward the throne of thy mercy-seat. My sins and transgressions are many, and divers of them have been often repeated; the corruption of my heart, and the sinfulness of my thoughts, are perfectly known to thee; and the punishment I deserve is greater than I am able to bear. O give me not over to mine oppressors, but save and deliver me for thy mercy's sake, through Jesus Christ.

O Lord! if thou shouldst deal with me as I have deserved, how justly mayst thou deprive me of all those means of grace, and opportunities of working out my salvation, which thou hast hitherto vouchsafed unto me: but O merciful Father! thou hast declared thyself to be a God merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. My only hope, therefore, is in thy tender mercies which have been ever of old; and in that pity and compassion which thou hast shown to mankind, in the redemption of the world, by the death

of thy dear son Jesus Christ, my Lord and

saviour.

affections;

For thy name's sake then, O Lord, and for thy beloved Son's sake, pardon, I most humbly beseech thee, all my past sins, and let not iniquity be my ruin. Forgive the deadness of my devotion; the coldness of my the wanderings of my prayers; and whatever else thou hast seen amiss in me. O pity my weaknesses, and forgive my infirmities, and lay not to my charge the imperfections of my religious duties. But,

Enable me, by the assistance of thy good spirit, to amend whatever has been amiss, and to endeavour more and more after the attainment of all those graces and good dispositions, which on this solemn occasion are necessary to render our prayers and praises acceptable in thy sight. Olet me never fall into a careless and unconcerned state of mind; into a coldness and indifferency toward the duties of religion; but animate and enliven my sluggish heart, and cleanse it from all its defilements.

Grant me such a conviction of my own weakness and insufficiency, as may procure thy gracious aid and assistance; such longing desires of being made conformable to thy holy will and pleasure, as may transform me into

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