of my own Unworthiness; Laying my Soul low before thee, and from the fenfe, how little, how meer a nothing, how much worse than nothing I am, will take the measure of thy Greatnefs, and form Idea's of thy infinite Goodness. I praise thee, O my God, from the bottom of my Heart; and extol thy Name for evermore. I defpife and deteft my self; and with the deepest Humility put my Soul into thy Hands, that thy Favour and Grace may exalt me, and make this defpicable Wretch fomething, who without thy Mercy is less than nothing.

Oh the wide Extremes! Oh the unmeasurable Diftance! between God, the Effence and Perfection of Holiness, and Man, the very Abstract of Filth and Sin. Yet does this God extend Compaffion, and look down with Pity, on thofe who are not worthy fo much as to lift up their Eyes to Him. Yet does he come to Us, delight to be with Us, promise to dwell with Us; call, and entreat, and importune Us, to fit and eat delicioufly with him. Invites the Naked and Hungry, the Beggers and Va Pfal. Ixxviii. gabonds to his own Table, feeds them with Angels Food, Feafts them with the Bread of Hea ven, even that living Bread which came down from Heaven, on purpose to give Life

John vi.

unto the World.

Oh! whence could all this mighty Love proceed? what account can be given of fuch wonderful Condefcenfion, fuch tender Regards to loft unworthy Creatures? What Thanks, what Praife, what humble Adoration do thofe fo highly obliged, fo particularly favoured Creatures owe in return for them? How Wife, how Saving was thy Defign in the first Institution of this Holy Supper? How rich, how delightful a Banquet haft thou prepared for thy Guefts, by ordering thy own Body and Blood for the mystical Entertainment of the Faithful? How astonishing

are

are the Operations of thy Grace aud Power! How incomprehenfible the Methods of fulfilling thy most true Promife! Thou spakeft the Word in the beginning, and all things were created; and by the fame Almighty Word, thou commandeft Bread and Wine, and they nourish Souls to Life Eternal.

This is indeed a Subject, contrived, not for the Exercise of our Reafon, but of our Faith. We are not able to account for the mighty Efficacy of Elements in their own Nature Contemptible and Weak. We knew not how that God, whom the whole Heavens cannot contain, fhould dwell in the Hearts of Men; but this we know, that thou haft promised, by and with this Sacrament, to enter into, and abide in, all worthy Receivers; and thy Truth is fufficient to filence and vanquish all thofe imaginary Difficulties, which Cavilling and Curious Men form to themselves about it. Come then, and enter; and live, and Reign in me for ever; cleanse and adorn with thy Grace the Place of thy peculiar Refidence; Preferve my Heart and Body free from all Impurity, and remove far away whatever may be offenfive to thy holy Eyes; let this Veffel of mine be conftantly poffeffed in San&tification and Honour; that, with a peaceful and fpotlefs Confcience, I may frequently approach, and eagerly receive these adorable Mysteries, which thou haft appointed, for the Comfort and Salvation of those whom the King of Heaven delights to Honour; and for devout and lively Commemorations of thy own most bitter, but moft meritorious and precious · Death.

And Thou, my Soul, rejoice and be exceeding glad for fo noble a Favour, fo heavenly a Refrefhment, fo rich a Confolation, to fupport and fweeten thy Paf fage through this Vale of Tears and Mifery. For, Every time thou attendeft thefe holy Myfteries, thou doft fpiritually eat the Flesh of Christ, and drink bis Blood;

thou

thou doft act as it were over again the Work of thy Redemption, and with great effect partake of thy Saviour's Merit and Sufferings; for this 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. Let not the frequency abate thy Devotion; for this Favour fhould always feem great; this Feaft always honourable, and the Delights of it always new. And by the Force of Pious Meditation, the Mystery will affect thy wondring Mind at every Repetition, as if the Son of God were just that Moment born from the Womb of his Immaculate Mother; as if thy Suffering Redeemer were in that inftant labouring under all his Agonies! and thy own Eyes beheld him hanging, and bleeding, and dying on the Crofs.

CHA P. III.

The Benefit of Communicating often.

Difciple. Behold, I come to thee, O Lord, defi

rous to partake of thy Promise, to be enriched with thy Gifts, and feafted with that Heavenly Banquet, which thy Compaffion hath prepared for hungry and drooping Souls. I know, O Lord, in Thee is all I need, all I can defire; my Health and Safety, my Hope and Strength, my Honour and Glory. Quicken therefore and Cherifh the Soul of thy Servant, for unto Thee, O bleffed Jefus, do I lift up my Soul. It is my earnest longing to receive thee with a becoming Reverence and Devotion; the height of

my

my Ambition to bring thee Home to my Houfe; and, with Zachaus of old, to be bleffed, and reckoned by thee among the true Spiritual Sons of Abraham. My Soul defires to be fed and ftrengthened by thy Body, and my Heart to be entirely knit, infeparably united, to Thee. Tied c

Give me but thy felf, and, whatever elfe thou withholdeft, I am fatished: For all things befides are miferable Comforters, and rather aggravate than abate my Wretchedness. Without thy Confolations I am not able to fubfift: And therefore feel an abfolute neceffity of coming to thee often, for fresh fupplies of Grace and Strength. My Spirits languifh and fink, and, if I faft too long, Iperifh for want of feafonable Recruits from this heavenly Suftehance. Thy Bowels heretofore yearned over the Maltitudes, who came from far to hear thy Saving Doctrine, and be healed of their Bodily Diftempers. Thou would ft not fend them away empty, but wert pleafed to feed Man. XV. Marth them by a Miracle, left they fhould faint by the way. Extend the fame Compaffion towards me, and let this Sacrament fuftain my fainting Soul, in this Wilderness, barren and remote from any true Comfort. For thou art the fweet, the reviving Food of finking and weary Spirits, and they who worthily partake of this Repaft, are nourished unto Life Eternal. I am fadly fenfible of my Infirmities, and frequent Relapfes into Sin, and how urgent my Occafions are for thefe repeated Refreshments; I quickly cool after my warmeft Refolutions; my Purposes of Goodness ficken and languifh apace; and thefe Decays muft end in Spiritual Death, did not my Prayers, my Self-examinations, my Confeffions and Holy Sorrows, preparatory to this holy Feaft, often return: Did not this Divine Suftenance cleanfe and renew my Affections; confirm my Purpofes of doing well, excite and inflame my Zeal and Love for God and good Works; U

Ob

Obftinate Fafting would not more certainly quench all my Vital Heat, and deftroy my Body, than too long Abftinence from this Spiritual Food will wafte and quite extinguifh the Soul and all its Powers of Li ving well.

I find, and heartily bewail, a fatal Tendency to Evil, and my Experience, from my very Cradle, fhews me how ftrongly I incline to Sin, and fall from bad to worfe, except a Remedy from above check this Indifpofition, and fuccour and fupport me from plunging into Hell. This Holy Communion is that Remedy, It calls back my wandring Steps, prevents my falling by Relapfe or Neglect, and ftrengthens me in Grace and Goodness. And, if even in my ftudied and moft laboured Devotions, I am fo often cold, fo lukewarm at the beft; how frozen fhould I be, how infenfible and dead, were thefe helps laid afide, and no fuch Ap plication ufed to warm and quicken me? Though therefore my Life be not fo perfect, that I am always in a fit Difpofition to communicate, yet it fhall be my Care, at folemn and proper Seafons, not to lofe the Benefit of these holy Myfteries, or ever to refuse my own Happiness. For this is the Sovereign Balm of wounded Confciences; the great Prefervative of decaying Souls; the cheering Comfort of the Faithful, mourning their prefent State of Banishment, and -groaning earnestly for a Release from the Afflictions and Infirmities of thofe Mortal Bodies, to which thy Providence hath for a time confined them. And the oftner they thus remember their God, the greater is that Affection, and humble Devotion, with which they court and embrace their beloved Spouse and Lord.

But oh! how amazing is thy Love? and what is Man whom thou thus vouchfafeft to vifit? when the great God, the Creator of the World, and Father of the Spirits of all Flesh does not difdain to defcend