A Prayer on Saturday evening, for a worthy rece ing of the holy facrament. vo perdite I will wash my hands in innocency, O Lord, and fo w go to thine altar. Pfalm xxvi. 6. Crucified Jefu who at thy laft fupp didft ordain the holy eucharift, the crament and bond of chriftian love, forst continual remembrance of the facrifice of th death; and haft commanded us to do this remembrance of thee: let that propitiato facrifice of thy death, which thou didst off upon the cross for the fins of the whole worl and particularly for my fins, be ever fresh i my remembrance. Obleffed Saviour, let that mighty falvatio thy love hath wrought for us, never flip out o my mind, but efpecially let my remembranc of thee in the holy facrament be always mo lively and affecting. So that if I love thee tru ly, I fhall be fure to frequent thy altar, that may often remember all the wonderful love of my crucified Redeemer. Yet, forafmuch a I know, O'my God, that a bare remembrance of thee is not enough; fix in me fuch a remem brance of thee, as is fuitable to the infinite love I am to remember; work in me all thofe holy and heavenly affections, which become the remembrance of a crucified Saviour; and do thou thou fo difpofe my heart to be thy gueft at thy holy table, that I may feel all the fweet influences of love crucified, the ftrengthening and refreshing of my foul by thy body and blood, as my body is by the bread and wine. O merciful Jefu! let that immortal food, which in the holy eucharift thou vouchfafeft me, pour into my weak and languifhing foul new fupplies of grace, new life, new love, new vigour, and new refolutions, that I may never more faint or droop, or faulter in my duty. Amen, Lord Jefus, Amen. See the concluding Prayer and Bleffing on page 36 and 37. *The Meditation for Sunday Morning. On the love of God to mankind, particularly manifefted in this facrament. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. 1 John iii. 16. I. Binvited, Ehold, Lord, thus encouraged, thus invited, I come; yet I do not prefume to do fo, trufting in my own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. I feel, alas! my weakneffes and wants, and betake myself to thee for relief; fick and diseased, I fly to the E 4 phy Here you may obferve the directions given on page 3. phyfician of fouls; hungry and thirsty, to this fountain of living water, and bread of life; poor and needy, to the bountiful king of heaven; a fervant to his kind mafter! a creature to his compaffionate creator, who hateth nothing that he hath made; and a forlorn difconfolate wretch, to thee, the holy, the eternal, the only comforter, But, 2. Whence is this to me, that my God fhould vouchfafe to come unto me? or, who am I that thou fhouldft communicate to me thy own felf? how fhall a wicked finner dare to appear before thee? or how canft thou, who art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, endure to make fuch condefcending approaches to a foul polluted with fin and with uncleannefs? thou feeft my very inward parts, and knoweft I have nothing in me that is good; nothing to invite fuch mercy; nothing fit for the reception of fo pure, fo glorious a majesty. 3. I will therefore most humbly confefs my own vileness and thy unspeakable goodness; I will moft thankfully admire, and praise, and adore thy marvellous love, and exceeding abundant grace. For this is purely thine own act. Nothing on my part could deserve, nothing could move thee to it. The more un worthy worthy I am, the more confpicuous is thy goodness, the more amazing thy mercy and condefcenfion. 4. Since therefore thou art pleafed to ftoop. fo low, be it unto me according to thy word. Since thou haft thought fit to command my approach, I will moft gladly teftify my ready obedience; and only beg, that my own finfulness may not render me odious in thy fight, nor fruftrate these ineftimable mercies to me. I will fupply my want of ability by the earneftness of my zeal; and most humbly beseech thee to accept thofe hearty defires of the ineftimable benefit, by which my foul and all its faculties thirft and pant most impatiently after thee and thy righteousness. I will turn my eyes into my own heart, and entertain myfelf with the mortifying profpect of my own unworthinefs, laying my foul low before thee; and from the fenfe of my fin I will flee to thy mercy, that I may be made whole by the body and blood of my redeemer. 5. How wife, how faving, was thy defign, in the first inftitution of this holy fupper! how rich, how delightful a banquet haft thou prepared for thy guefts, by ordering thy own body and blood for the mystical entertainE 5 ment ment of the faithful! how aftonifhing are the operations of thy grace and power! how incomprehenfible the methods of fulfilling thy moft true promife! Thou fpakeft the word in the beginning, and all things were created! and by the fame almighty word, thou commandeft bread and wine, and they nourish, fouls to life eternal. 6. And thou, my foul, rejoice and be exceeding glad for fo noble a favour, fo heavenly a refreshment, fo rich a confolation to fupport and sweeten thy paffage thro' this vale of tears and mifery. For, every time thou attendeft these holy myfteries, thou doft fpiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood; thou doft act, as it were, over again the work of thy redemption, and effectually partake of thy Saviour's merits and fufferings. For, his love continues always the fame, and the excellence and worth of his propitiation is an inexhauftible spring of mercy. Come therefore hither with new exalted zeal, enlarge thy heart and its defires, and doubt not, but thou fhalt at every approach, return with fresh and plentiful acceffions of grace. 7 Let not the frequency abate thy devotion: for this favour fhould always feem great, |