morial of my Saviour's death, and to partake by faithof the precious benefits which flow from it. I who de serve not the crumbs, am called to eat the children's bread.

O Lord, I thank thee for the institution of this blessed ordinance, this precious legacy and token of love, which the Lord Jesus left to his church, that it is preserved to this age, and administered in this land, that I am admitted to it, and have now before me an opportunity to partake of it; Lord, grant that I may not receive thy grace herein in vain.

O thou who hast called me to the marriage-supper of the Lamb, give me the wedding garment; work in me a disposition of soul, and all those pious and devout affections which are suited to the solemnities of this ordinance, and requisite to qualify me for an acceptable.and advantageous participation of it. Behold the fire and the wood, all things are now ready; but where is the lamb for the burnt-offering? Lord, provide thyself a lamb, by working in me all that which thou requirest of me upon this occasion. The preparation of the heart, and the answer of the tongue are both free from thee; Lord, prepare my unprepared heart for communion with

thee.

Lord, I confess I have sinned against thee; I have done foolishly, very foolishly, for foolishness is bound up in my heart; I have sinned and have come short of being glorified with thee. The imagination of my heart is evil continually, and the bias of my corrupt nature is very strong toward the world, and the flesh, and the gratifications of sense; but towards God, and Christ, and heaven, I move slowly, and with a great many stops and pauses. Nay, there is in my carnal mind a wretched aversion to divine and spiritual things. I have mispent my time, trifled away my opportunities, have followed after lying vanities, and forsaken my own mer

cies. God be merciful to me a sinner! for how little have I done, since I came into the world, of the great work that I was sent into the world about!

Thou hast taken me into covenant with thee, for I am a baptized Christian, set apart for thee, and sealed to be thine; thou hast laid me, and I also have laid my. self under all possible obligations to love thee, and serve thee, and live to thee. But I have started aside from thee like a deceitful bow; I have not made good my covenant with thee, nor hath the temper of my mind, and the tenor of my conversation been agreeable to that holy religion which I make profession of, to my expectations from thee, and engagements to thee. I am bent to backslide from the living God; and if I were under the law I were undone; but I am under grace, a covenant of grace, which leaves room for repentance, and promiseth pardon upon repentance, which invites even backsliding children to return, and promiseth that their backslidings shall be healed. Lord I take hold of this covenant, seal it to me at thy table. There let me find my heart truly humbled for sin, and sorrowing for it after a godly sort. O that I may there look upon him, whom I have peirced, and mourn, and be in bitterness for him; that there I may sow in tears, and receive a broken Christ into a broken heart; and there let the blood of Christ, which speaks better things than that of Abel, be sprinkled upon my conscience, to purify and pacify it; there let me be assured that thou art reconciled to me, that my iniquities are pardoned, and that I shall not come into condemnation. There say unto me, Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee.

And that I may not come unworthily to this blessed ordinance, I beseech thee lead me into a more intimate and experimental acquaintance with Jesus Christ, and him crucified; that knowing him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, and

being by his grace planted in the likeness of both, I may both discern the Lord's body, and show forth the Lord's death.

Lord, I desire, by a true and lively faith, to close with Jesus Christ, and consent to him as my Lord, and my God; I here give up myself to him as my Prophet, Priest and King, to be ruled and taught, and saved by him; this is my beloved, and this is my friend. None but Christ, none but Christ. Lord, increase this faith in me, perfect what is lacking in it; and enable me, in receiving the bread and wine at thy table, by a lively faith to receive Christ Jesus the Lord. O let the great gospel doctrine of Christ's dying to save sinners, which is represented in that ordinance by meat and drink to my soul, be meat indeed, and drink indeed. Let it be both nourishing and refreshing to me, let it be both my strength and my song, and be the spring both of my holiness and of my comfort. And let such deep impres sions be made upon my soul, by the actual commemoration of it, as may abide always upon me, and have a powerful influence upon me in my whole conversation, that the life I now live in the flesh, I may live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Lord I beseech thee fix my thoughts; let my heart be engaged to approach unto thee, that I may attend upon thee without distraction. Draw out my desires towards thee; give me to hunger and thirst after righteousness, that I may be filled; and to draw near to thee with a true heart, and in full assurance of faith; and since I am not straitened in thee, O let me not be straitened in my own bosom.

Draw me, Lord, and I will run after thee. O send out thy light and thy truth, let them lead and guide me; pour thy Spirit upon me, put thy Spirit within me, to work in me both to will and to do that which is good,

and leave me not to myself. Awake, O north wind, and come thou south, and blow upon my garden; come, O blessed Spirit of grace, and enlighten my mind with the knowledge of Christ, bow my will to the will of Christ, fill my heart with the love of Christ, and confirm my resolution to live and die with him.

Work in me (I pray thee) a principle of holy love and charity towards all men, that I may forgive my enemies, (which by thy grace I heartily do,) and may keep up a spiritual communion in faith, hope, and holy love, with all that in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Lord, bless them all, and particularly that congregation with which I am to join in this solemn ordinance. Good Lord, pardon every one that engageth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of their fathers, though not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. Hear my prayers, and heal the people.

Lord, meet me with a blessing, a father's blessing at thy table; grace thine own institution with thy presence, and fulfil in me all the good pleasure of thy goodness, and the work of faith with power, for the sake of Jesus Christ, my blessed Saviour and Redeemer; to him, with the Father and the eternal Spirit, be everlasting praises. Amen.`

Another, after receiving the Lord's Supper.

O LORD, my God and my Father, in Jesus Christ, I can never sufficiently admire the condescension of thy grace to me; what is man that thou dost thus magnify him, and the son of man that thou thus visitest him? Who am I, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? hast brought me into the banqueting-house, and thy banner over me hath been love? I have reason to say, that a day in thy courts, an hour at thy table, is better, far better, than a thousand days, than ten thousand hours elsewhere; it is good for me to draw

near to God. Blessed be God for the privileges of his house, and those comforts with which he makes his people joyful in his house of prayer.

But I have reason to blush and be ashamed of myself that I have not been more affected with the great things which have been set before me, and offered to me at the Lord's table. O what a vain, foolish, trifling heart, have I? When I would do good, even evil is present with me good Lord, be merciful to me, and pardon the iniquity of my holy things, and let not my many defects in my attendance upon thee be laid to my charge, or hinder my profiting by the ordinance.

I have now been commemorating the death of Christ. Lord, grant that by the power of that, sin may be crucified in me, the world crucified to me, and I to the world: and enable me so to bear about with me continually the dying of the Lord Jesus, as that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in my mortal body.

I have now been receiving the precious benefits which flow from Christ's death; Lord, grant that I may never lose, never forfeit those benefits, but as I have received Christ Jesus the Lord, give me grace so to walk in him, and to live as one that am not my own, but bought with a price, glorifying God with my body and spirit, which are his.

I have now been renewing my covenant with thee, and engaging myself afresh to thee to be thine; now, Lord, give me grace to perform my vow. Keep it always in the imagination of the thought of my heart, and establish my way before thee. Lord, preserve me by thy grace, that I may never return again to folly; after God hath spoken peace, may I never by my loose and careless walking undo what I have been doing to-day: but having my heart enlarged with the consolation of God, give me to run the way of thy commandments