*The Meditation for Friday Morning.

On the paffion of our bleffed Saviour, commemorated in the most holy facrament of the Lord's fupper.

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

I. Propofe now unto thee, O my foul, that thou may'st give me comfort by a devout meditation on the fufferings of our wounded Jefus, which were the wonder and aftonishment 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, condefcended with the profoundest humility to undergo the punishment of flaves.

2. Behold with what patience this innocent lamb yields to have his body plowed and furrowed by merciless murderers! behold him naked, helplefs, and unpitied, whilft the furious executioners tear his fkin and tender flesh with cruel fcourges, to fatisfy the cruelty of a barbarous multitude!

3. Behold this fame bleffed Jefus extended, tortured, and nailed, and rudely hoisted

up

upon

Here you may obferve the directions given on Page 3.

upon the cross between two thieves, where he hung for the fpace of three long hours, [reviled by the Jews, and railed at by the very thieves] in pain, dolour, in grief, and fhame; all his bones disjointed, and his wounds ftretched and rent the wider by the weight of his body hanging on the nails; and all this for man, cven for thee, my foul, a miferable finner!

4. Behold thofe powerful hands, which fo lately had cured the blind and deaf, cleanfed the lepers, and loofed them that were bound by jatan, extended in mifery! behold those adorable feet pierced with nails, which had gone about doing good continually!

Behold that facred body hanging upon 5. the cross, hungry and thirsty, naked and cold, wounded and rent, weeping and bleeding, racked and tortured, languifhing, praying, and facrificing itself, and expofed 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 fenfual delights. Behold that face, more beautiful than the fons of men, which comforted the afflicted, and the light of whose countenance the fathers and pro

phets

phets had fo much defired to behold, changed into the paleness and horror of death; crying to his father, My God, my God, why haft thou forfaken me! and then giving up the ghoft.

6. Oh! how great in mercy, how abundant in compaffion was the fon of God thus to die for thee; how great in majefty, how terrible in power! for now did the heavens wax dark, the veil of the temple rent afunder; the very ftones cleave, and the dead arofe. How great was his power in his death, to produce fuch wonders by it, in it, and after it? how far did his merits and power extend! even to the fun in the heavens, to the veil in the temple, to the holy of holies, the dead in the graves to the center 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 crofs of my faviour, and there with the pious, devout, and afflicted women, and his beloved difciple St. John, I will open the flood-gate of mine eyes, I will water my couch with tears, I will bring my body into fubjection, and rend my heart; left I by my evil deeds approve, and become partaker of their fins. The infatiable malice of the chief priefts and elders, who perfuaded

the

the multitude to cry out at once, away with this man, and releafe unto us Burabbas. | What was this but to fay, de troy the innocent, and give us a traitor and a thief? away with the prince of peace and univerfal charity, and leave unto us the author of fedition: put him to death who has raifed up the dead before us, and give unto us a known murtherer.

8. But what haft thou done, O thou lamb of God? and how haft thou deserved, thou faviour of the world, to be thus expofed, vilified, and tormented? what is thy crime, and the caufe of thy grief? what is it that has laid thee on the altar of the crofs, naked, bleeding, tortured and dying? the Lord has laid on thee the iniquities of us all: thou art wounded for our tranfgreffions: thou art bruifed for our fins: the chaftifement of our peace is upon thee; and by thy ftripes we are healed.

9. Sing then, all you dear-bought nations of the earth, fing hymns of glory to the only Jefus; let every one break forth into finging, who pretends to felicity; fing praifes to the God of our falvation; to him, who for us endured fo much scorn, and patiently received fo many injuries; to him, who for us fweat drops of blood, and drank of the dregs of his

father's

father's wrath; to the eternal Lord of heaven and earth, who for us was flain by the hands of the wicked; who for us was led away as a fheep to the flaughter; and meek as a lamb, opened not his mouth.

A prayer on Friday morning, acknowledging our own frailty, and imploring God's grace, thro' the merits of the paffion of his fon Jefus Chrift.

Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness: according to the multitude of thy mercies, do away mine of fences. Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my fin. For I acknowledge my faults; and fin is ever before me. Pfalm li. 1, 2, 3.

my

Moft great and glorious Lord God, just

and terrible in thy judgments to all obftinate rebellious finners, but of infinite mercy to fuch as truly repent, and turn unto thee; look down, I befeech thee, with the eyes of mercy upon me, who now prefent myfelf before thee, acknowledging that I am not worthy to lift up mine eyes to the throne of thy glorious majefty. O Lord, my fins are fo many and fo great, that it is owing to thy infinite goodness and mercy, that I have now an opportunity of humbling myself before thee, and begging mercy for my foul, which, I confefs, has greatly finned against thee..

For I ftill fear, I have too great a defire

after