Blessed Lord God,

LOOK down in mercy and compaffion on me, thy poor diftreffed fupplicant, whom thou now vouchfafeft to admit unto thy heavenly banquet; illuminate my blindnefs by the bleffed light of thy moft facred word, fatisfy my hunger with the sweet refreshings of thy gracious prefence, inrich my poverty with the gifts and graces of thy holy spirit; cover my nakedness with the precious robes of thine own righteousness; swallow up the depths of my mifery by the height of thy mercy, that I may this day appear before thee with a fincere heart, and happy foul.

Lord, ftrengthen and fupport my feeble faith, make me joyfully to truft in thee, conftantly to rely upon thee, thankfully to facrifice my foul in praises to thee.

Vouchsafe, dear Lord, that I may worthily approach thy bleffed table, that I may this day be fo united to thee, that all my joy and comfort may hereafter be for ever with thee, -AMEN.

CHAP. VIII

CONTAINING PIOUS EJACULATIONS AT THE

TIME OF RECEIVING.

LORD,

THOU art that bleffed bread, by which

my foul is nourished to eternal life; thou art that fruitful vine, from which doth flow those gladding comforts to my fainting fpirit.

Thou wert broken for my fins, thou wert bruised for my tranfgreffions, and the chastisement of my peace was upon thee: Lord, by thy ftripes let my finful foul be healed.

Thou tookeft into thy hands the cup of trembling, thou drankeft out the very dregs thereof, and thy precious blood was poured out like water for my fake.

Sweet Jefus, fuftain me by this bread, refresh me with this wine, recover me with this potion, cleanse me by this effufion, that I may this day receive joyfully, return thankfully, live righteously, and die happily.

CHAP. IX.

CONTAINING A BRIEF MEDITATION, AND PIOUS THANKSGIVING AFTER OUR RECEIVING.

I AM this day joyfully delivered from the bondage of fin and fatan, and happily reftored into the glorious liberty of the fons of GOD; I have relifhed the sweetness of his heavenly promifes, and received the feal of his gracious performances; I now enjoy that bleffed peace of GoD which paffeth all our understanding. My deliverance is wonderful, my freedom abfolute, my peace unalterable, my joy unutterable: my confcience is now quieted, my fpirit ravished, mine enemies vanquished, and my God well-pleafed.

TO thee, therefore, O thou bleffed Fountain of eternal sweetness, do I addrefs my joyful foul, to love and honor thee to my lives end. Lord Jefus accept of me, and fo powerfully and graciously af fift me, that I may favingly behold thee in thy bleffed promises, that I may happily enjoy thee in thy holy ordinances; that I may clearly fee, and joyfully confess what great things thou haft done for my poor foul; that I may be daily ravifhed with apprehen

fion of thine exceeding love, and hourly bufied with recounting thy endless praise.

Lord, make me to forfake the fins and miferies of this life; make me more watchful over my corrupt heart, more zealous of thy glory and thy childrens good; that I may never willingly offend thee, but wholly facrifice the short remainder of my days unto thee; that fo my heart and my flesh may triumphantly rejoice in thee the living God,

Mortify my corruptions, fupport my weakness, accept my willingness; let this my humiliation before thee, be a pleafing facrifice unto thee, for his alone fake, whofe precious life thy rich mercy hath facrificed to thy justice for me. Lord hear me, have mercy on me for his alone fake, whom thou hast freely given unto me, that I may truly love thee, devoutly ferve thee, and earneftly embrace thee.

CHAP. X.

UPON A JOURNEY UNDERTAKEN, AND THE MANY DANGERS INCIDENT THEREUNTO.

I AM now going from mine own home,

and know not whether I fhall ever return; God, I know, hath fet a period to my days, beyond which I cannot pass, but when, or where, or how my life fhall end, I am uncertain. Many are the dangers that attend this finful life, and many more my fins that have deserved them, I can neither number the one, nor foresee the other, this is the wretched and fad condition of my body, and (without unfeigned forrows of my fins,) the much more woeful cafe of my diftreffed foul.

Lord, there is nothing so sweet as thy love, nothing fo safe as thy protection, and yet I have carelessly neglected the one, and thou mayeft not juftly deny me the other; thou haft wooed me to mercy, and I have refused to come; thou haft graciously invited me by thy continual preservations, by thy fatherly suftentations, by thy gentle corrections, by thy faithful promises, and thy rich performances.

Bleffed Lord, how wonderful are thy compaffions. towards me, when I am unthankful for thy many