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Thou haft prepar'd this dying Lamb,
Haft fet his blood before our face,
To teach the terrors of thy name,
And how the wonders of thy grace.
He is our light, our morning ftar,
Shall fhine on nations yet unknown;
The glory of thine Israel here,
And joy of Spirits near the throne.

The Prayer on Sunday Evening*. For ftrength and grace in our fallen state.

TERNAL God, thou alone art he in whom we live and move and have our being; and from whom are derived all the comforts and conveniences of this life, and all the hopes and expectations of a better. Thou art the author and finither of every good work; without thee nothing is ftrong, nothing is holy; without thy affifting and preventing grace, we are easily driven away by every flight temptation, as the duft before the wind is carried to and fro.

With what humility, reverence, and dread, then ought I, thy fervant, dedicated to thee long ago by moft folemn vows and engagements in my holy bap tifm, which I have fince [often] [efpecially this day] renewed at thy holy table, where

See the preparatory prayer on page 22.

where I received the facrament of Chrift's body and blood to appear before thee, when I confider the greatnefs of thy majefty, and the purity of thy divine nature, whofe fervice is perfect freedom; and without thy favour and love, O Jefu, I must have been and fhall be the moft miferable of all thy creatures. So that,

O Lord, if thou hadft not invited me, I acknowledge, that I was not worthy to come into thy prefence, nor to lift up mine eyes toward the throne of thy mercy. feat: for the corruption of my heart and the finfulness of my thoughts is that abomination which thou abhorreft. Hence,

O my God, I am fully perfuaded, that it is my happiness and privilege, as well as my duty, to love, adore, and ferve thee. I am feriously convinced, that there is no pleasure like that of a good confcience; and that the greatest fatisfactions in this world are not worthy to be compared with that fulness of joy that is in thy prefence for evermore. But, alas! I know by fad experience that I am prone to offend thee,, and too apt to forget the vows and refolutions, which I have made to serve and obey thee, at the times thy Holy Spirit hath raised me from the death of fin to a new life of righteoufnefs. Therefore,

O most merciful Father, who knowest

that

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that we are but duft and afhes, vouchfafe, of thy great goodness, to pity the weakneffes of me thy poor creature; and continue to me the affiftance of thy grace and Holy Spirit, that I may not be tempted above what I am able to bear. And whereas, this very day, O Lord, thou haft given me an opportunity of ferving thee in thy houfe; grant that I may not be accused of coldness or indevotion, nor of hearing thy word only; but that I may approve myself a doer of the fame in my faith and practice. Wherefore,

O moft gracious God! let me never faint or tire in my duty, nor for the fake of any thing this world can offer me, be unmindful of the great and important concern of my falvation. Give me fuch a zeal for thy fervice, that the doing thy will may be my greateft joy and fatisfaction and imprint on my mind fuch a lively fenfe of thy love, as may inflame my heart with the most devout and ardent affections: that, being every day more and more weaned from this world, I may look upon all its honours, pleafures, and profits, with that coldness and indifference, which becomes the fervant of the bleffed Jefus; who, being God, defcended from the heavens, and took upon him the form of a fervant, that he

might

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might leave us an example of his great humility: grant this, O Father, for Jefus Chrift's fake, our only Mediator, and Advocate. Amen. Our Father, &.c.

THE

A concluding prayer.

'HE grace of our Lord Jefus Christ, and the love of God, and the fel lowship of the Holy Ghoft, be with us all evermore. Amen.

N. B. This prayer may properly be ufed every morn ing and evening to conclude your devotions.

If time fhall now permit, you may proceed to examine yourself, and the ftate of your confcience, by the particular directions printed on pages 43 and 44 of this Second Part.

When

you

lie down in your bed.

I Will lay me down in peace, and take my reft, for it is thou, Lord, only, that makeft me to dwell in fafety; and into thy hands I recommend my fpirit, my foul, and my body, for thou haft redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth. Amen.

When you go out of your chamber.

THE

HE bleffing of God defcend upon me, and all belonging to me; and may he dwell in my heart for evermore, and blefs my going out and my coming in, now, and for ever. Amen.

The

The Meditation for Monday Morning.

Upon the inftitution of the holy facrament of the Lord's fupper.

"The bread that I will give, is my flesh.-My flefh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.It is the fpirit that quickeneth. the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I fpeak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. John vi. 53, 55, 63.

C

1. Onfider, Omy foul! how by Divine Providence, we have escaped the dangers of this night, and are continued together under a deep fenfe of our duty, which we yesterday acknowledged and confirmed in the receiving of that holy facrament, which in its outward part is only bread and wine which the Lord bath commanded to be received; that is, to be eaten and drank by all fuch as come to his table, in remembrance of the body and blood of Chrift, which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper. A facrament, which at once, by the bread broken, fignifies the body of Chrift, broken on the cross; and, by the wine poured out, fignifies the blood of Chrift, fhed at his crucifixion. But guard against that doctrine, which teaches, that we eat the natural body, and drink the natural blood of Chrift; for the natural body and blood of Chrift are in heaven, and not here; it being against the truth of Christ's natural body to be

at

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