Come you that have Leifure, and here entertain your Time: Come you that are bufie, and here learn to fanctifie your Employment. Come all, and gather freely of this Coleftial Manna, and fill your Souls with the Food of Angels. Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the Beginning, &c. TH PSALM LVIII. Hus does our gracious Lord invite, and fhall we go? Shall Sinners dare to fit down at his Table? Thus he invites, and fhall we not go ? Shall Wretches prefume to refuse his Call? Rife then, my Soul, and take thy swifteft Wings, and fly to the Prefence of this great Mystery. Soon as thou comeft, bow low thy Head ; and humbly adore thy bleft Redeemer. Our God that comes fo far to meet us; and brings along with him a whole Heaven to entertain us. Arife, and leave the World behind thee; and run with Gladness to falute thy Lord. Enter the Palace of his glorious Residence, the Place where his Honour dwelleth. There fhall we fee the Eternal Word, who defcended from Heaven to become Man for us; There There we fhall fee the Prince of Peace facrifice himself to reconcile us with his Father; There fhall we fee, O ftupendious Mercy! the Son of God with Food entertaining the Sons of Men. Can we, O dear Redeemer! believe the Wonders of this Mystery,and not be ravish'd with Admiration of thy Goodness? Can we acknowledge thy fupream Veracity, and not believe this Wonder of thy Love? What though our Eyes fee nothing but Bread and Wine? Our Faith, and Experience too, affure us, that thou art there alfo. For, O the Gufts of Joy, and Souls overflowing Comforts, the Juft do find herein! Producing nothing but Praises, and Thanksgivings, and Love, and Joy,and Fear; And Care of offending that bleffed Lord, who meets them at this holy, and myfterious Feast. What earnest Supplications do they make, that their Lord will take Poffeffion of their Hearts, and never depart from them more? Let us not then refufe io believe our God, because his Mercies tranfcend our Capacities? No, no, 'tis thy very Self, O blessed Jefu, and 'tis thine own Light by which we see Thee. And And 'tis thine Holy Spirit the Comforter, by which we feel, and find Thee. None but infinite Wisdom could ever have invented fo ftrange, and high, and prodigious a Mystery. None but an unconceivable infinite Goodnefs, would ever have imparted fo dear, and tender, and rich a Bleffing. Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the Beginning, &c. PSALM LIX. that thus thou regardeft our wretched Duft? What's all the World compar'd to thee; that thus thou feemeft to difregard thy Self? 'Twas for our fakes, and to draw us up to thy Love, that thou hast commanded us to commemorate, and reprefent thy Paffion, And the Merits of it before thy Father on Earth, as thou doft prefent them to Him in Heaven. 'Twas for our fakes, and to help the Infirmities of our Nature, that thou didst appoint a Commemorative Sacrifice, Of that one Oblation of thy Self once offer'd upon the Crofs, and Bread, and Wine fo offered, and bleffed, as Symbols of thy Body, and Blood. Bleffed are the Eyes, O Jefu, that see thee in these holy Signs; and blessed is the Mouth, that reverently receives thee. Blessed Bleffed yet more is the Heart that defires thy Coming, and longs to fee thee in thy beauteous Self. O thou eternal Lord of Grace, and Glory, our Joy, and Portion in the Land of the Living! What haft thou there prepar'd for thy Servants, who bestoweft fuch Pledges of thy Bounty here! What doft thou there referve in thine own Kingdom, who giveft us thy Self in this Place of Banifhment! How will thy open Vision transport our Souls; when our dark Faith yields us fuch Delights? Nothing on Earth fo fweet as to kneel whole Hours before thee, and one by one confider thy innumerable Mercies. What must it be in Heaven to fhine continually before thee; and all in one contemplate thy unfpeakable Goodness, and Glories. O my ador'd Redeemer! when will that happy Day appear, when mine Eyes may behold thee without a Veil? When will the Clouds and Shadows pafs away; that thy Beams may fhine on me in their full Brightness? Object not against me, dearest Lord, that none can see thy Face, and live? Those Fears thy Love has changed, and all my Hope is now to live by feeing Thee. Say not, O thou mild and gracious Majefty, if I approach thy Prefence I muft die. Kather inftruct me fo to die, that I may live for ever in thy Prefence. Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the Beginning, &c. Antiphon. How great is the Multitude of thy Loving-kindneffes, which thou haft laid up for them that fear thee? SAL Revel. 7. 10. Alvation to our God, who fitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb. Amen. Bleffing, and Glory, and Wisdom, and Thanksgiving, and Honour, and Power, and Might, be to our God for ever and ever. Amen. With HYMN XVIII. Ith all the Powers my poor Soul hath, Of humble Love, and Loyal Fa ith, Thus low, my God, I bow to Thee, Whom too much Love bow'd low'r for me. Down bufie Senfe, Difcourfes die, |
