again

Send down thy Holy Spirit, O most merciful Father, upon me thy servant; and so fill me with thy heavenly grace and benediction, that I may become a living temple, sanctified and devoted to thy honour and service, and such wherein thou mayest delight to dwell, and make the place of thy rest and abode both now and for ever.

And to this end, O Lord, give me grace seriously to consider, that thou art a God greatly to be feared for thy power and justice; greatly to be beloved, for thine infinite perfection and goodness; and greatly to be praised, for thy liberal bounty and loving-kindness: that thou art both the author and the end of my being; my true and only good; the cause of all my joy and happiness; and the great centre and stay of thy whole creation.

Give me grace also seriously to consider what I myself am; that I am a creature, a poor, empty, weak, and imperfect being; that I have nothing but what I receive from thee; that I can do nothing but what I do by thee, nor know any thing but in thee, and thy light; that in thee I have my life, my motion, 'my being, my happiness, and my all.

Grant, O Lord, that I may also seriously

a creature but a

good living

that so

my spirit may be pure

124

Private Devotions

life

PART I.

be holy, my

and right within me, my may
death comfortable, my resurrection joyful, and
my eternal state happy and glorious with thee,
my God, for ever and ever. Amen.

A Prayer for Saturday Evening,

O ETERNAL Being! Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; I thy unworthy servant adore thy glorious Majesty, acknowledging my dependence upon thee, and that all I have proceeds from thine infinite bounty and goodness.

Thou hast shown thyself a most kind and indulgent Father: but, alas! 1 have been an undutiful and disobedient child, and have made ungrateful returns for those innumerable mercies and favours which thou hast bestowed upon me.

O Lord, my conscience accuses me of having done many things contrary to thy blessed will; of having acted foolishly and wickedly, contrary to my best and greatest interest.

I am sensible, O Lord, that the greatest concernments of this world are as nothing when compared with eternity; and yet how apt am I to grow careless and remiss in the great and important work of my salvation, and to suffer

foctions to be carried away after the

ment

mercy

remen merci

dear

not an

full,

belov

throu sion, those

Lord

imm

O Lord, the wages, and desert, and punishment of sin, is death; but thou art infinite in mercy, and willest not the death of a sinner remember then, I beseech thee, thy tender mercies; and, for the sake and merits of my dear Redeemer, have mercy upon me, and be not angry with me for ever. Accept of that full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, which thy beloved Son offered upon the cross; and through the merit of his bitter death and passion, pardon all my sins * particularly those which I have this day committed. O Lord, give me an interest in the blood of that immaculate Lamb Jesus Christ; and grant that I may never render those sufferings which he underwent for sinners, ineffectual to the salvation of my soul.

**

Give me grace seriously to consider that it is my indispensable duty to forsake every evil way. Possess my soul with just and lively apprehensions of the infinite disproportion there is between this world and the next, that I may make a right use and improvement of all those gracious opportunities which thou art pleased to give me of working out my salvation, and securing an inheritance in that kingdom which is to last for ever.

Let no temptations or allurements divert me from securing the interest of my precious soul;