While he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forfake his way, and the unrighteous Man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and our God, for he will abundantly pardon, Ifa, 55. 6. 7..

The PRAYER.

1

Lord, Great, and incomprehenfible ! Slow to Anger, and great in Power; and who wilt not at all acquit the Wicked! Thy Way is in the Whirl-wind, and in the Storm; and the Clouds are the Duft of thy Feet. Thou rebukeft the Sea, and makeft it dry, and drieft up mighty Rivers. The Mountains quake at thy Word and the Hills melt, and the Earth is burnt at thy Pre-' fence; yea, the World, and all they that dwell therein. Who can stand thine Indignation? And who can abide the fierceness of thine Anger; where thy Fury is poured out like Fire, and the Rocks are thrown down by thine Arm? Who would not fear thee, O thou great Preferver of Men! Yet thou, Lord, art good, and a strong Hold in the Day of Trouble, and thou knoweft them that trust in thee. In my Approaches to thy Holy Table, let me fa reflect upon thy Mercy as not to forget thy Juftice. Let me fo look upon thy Friendship, as to caft an Eye, withal,upon thy Seve rity to thine Enemies. Thou offereft me thy Friendship in this Ordinance: How great is thy goodness! Oh, let me entertain the Offer with Admiration! God will dwell with fimple Man, and therefore requires a Temple; a Temple, not made with hewn Stones, not of polish'd Marble, not of painted Walls, but of living and Shining Gems, and fuch of Golden Ornaments as Ruft cannot touch, and Duft cannot blacken; a Temple purified with the Fire of Love, trimm'd with an holy Conver fation, and deck'd with variety of Vertues. Make my Soul, I beseech thee, fuch a Temple, and come and fix thy Tents here for ever. Thou art the Judge to whom I am accountable for my Receiving Let me remember, that as thou didst rain down Manna from Heaven upon thy People, fo thou didst rain down Fire and Brimstone too upon Sodom and Gomor

rah.

rah. Let me forejoyce in the Mercies thou raineft down upon me in this Sacrament, as to fear thy Judgments in cafe I abuse thofe Mercies. If of every idle Word Man fhall give an Account in the Great Day, what Account will they have to give of prophaning this fublime and myfterious Ordinance! if the Duft of thy Apostles Feet fhall bear witness in that Day against the Obftinate and Impenitent, what a Witness will the Body of the Son of God be against those who would not be warm'd with the Sight and Contemplation of it into Vertue! Let these things fink deep into my inward Parts, and teach me foto triumph in thy Praife, as to tremble at thy Prefence! Yet, Oh, let not my Goodness be the effect of a flavish Fear of Damnation, fo much as of love and delight in thy holy Ways! Let Kindness do more with me,than Terror; and let my Heart melt more with the fight of thy Condefcenfion,than with the fight of thy flaming Sword. Teach me to ferve thee with Pleafure and Affection, and let the Glory of thy Name be the End of all my boly Exercifes. Let thy Love be ever fixed in my Heart; and be thou my Reft, my Tranquility, my Peace, my Meat, my, Drink, my Food, my Treafure, my Poffeffion, and my Portion, for ever, thro Fefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

CHAP. XXII.

Of Preparation; And Firft, of Meditation of Chrift's Paffion.

The CONTENTS.

Preparation for this Holy Sacrament reduced to Five Heads: Meditation of Chrift's Paffion, with Reflexions on our Selves, Self-Examination, Judging our felves, SelfRefignation, and Devotions fuitable to the Occafion. Chrift himself meditated of his own Paffion, before he adminiftred this Sacrament to his Difciples. Meditation of Chrift's Paffion useful to bring things to our Minds we did not think of before, to enflame the Soul with the Love of Jefus, and to make us remember his Death with a quicker Senfe. A Paraphrafe upon the XXII. and XXIII.Chapters of St. Luke's Gofpel. What God faid to the Fems, may the more justly faid to us Chriftians, What could have been done more to my Vineyard, that I have not done in it? A vaft difference betwixt reading of Chrift's Paffion, and meditating of it. Some Rules and Cautions about this exercise of Meditation. The Prayer.

HA

be

Aving in the foregoing Chapters explained the Doctrine, Nature, Ulfe, End, and Defign of this Holy Sacrament. It will be neceffary to direct the Pious Soul in her Preparations for this BlessedOrdinance. And this Preparation may be faid to comprehend,

1. Medi

1. Meditation of Christ's Passion, with Peflections on

our Selves.

2. Self-Examination.

3. Judging our Selves.

4. Self-Refignation.

5. Devotion fuitable to the occafion.

Damian in fpec.

Monach.

I. Begin with Meditation of Chrift's Paffion,call'd by Damian, The Believers Refuge in the hour of Temptation, his Shade in the heat and sweat of Afflictions, the everlasting Fewel of Divine Love, and the best Sauce or Remedy in all Troubles and. Vexations. And Chrift himself feems to have fhewn us an example of seasoning our Hearts with his previous Meditations; for before he inftituted this Sacrament, before he diftributed the Bread and Wine to the Disciples in the Eucharift, he contemplates his own Sufferings in the Paschal Lamb, he eat of it. He faw on the Table a Lamb dead, flead, and roafted at the Fire: This fuggested to him, how himself was, in a few hours after, to be kill'd, and fcourg'd, and feel the heat and fire of mighty Torments. He faw his Friends eat the Pafchal Lamb in hafte, and he could not but reflect what haste his Enemies would make to apprehend him. In the unleaven'd Bread and the bitter Herbs that were set before him, he faw the Gall and Vinegar he was to tafte; and if the Disciples, at that time, did eat the Paffover with Staves in their Hands, that could not but put him iņ mind of the Crofs to which he was to be nail'd.

II. What it is that makes Meditation of Christ's Paffion necessary, as an Act of Preparation for this Holy Sa crament, we shall eafily know, if we confider,

1. Meditation brings things to our Minds, we did not think of before. Though we know before, that Christ was unjustly accused by the Jews, beaten, buffeted, crown'd with Thorns, inhumanly murther'd; yeg Meditation discovers things to us, we took no great notice of before, it helps us to enlarge upon the Paffages

of his Paffion; and these cannot but be very inftructive to our Minds. This puts us in mind of the Dignity of the Person that fuffer'd all this; how it was not a mere Man, not a mortal King, not an Angel, not one of the Higher Orders of miniftring Spirits, but the Son of God that laid down his Life, a Life more precious than the Lives of all created Beings put together. This puts us in mind of the indignity of the Perfons, for whom he fuffer'd, what vile Creatures they were, Creatures of whom he could expect no advantage, and fear no daṇger, and fuch as were his Enemies. This puts us in mind of the vast multitude of his troubles and miferies, how his Body did not only fuffer, but his Soul too, how he fuffer'd in his Habit and Dress, by having it pull'd off from him, and divided among the ruder Soldiers: how he fuffer'd in his Honour and Reputation,by being call'd a Glutton, a Wine-bibber, a Blafphemer, ftirring up of the People, and poffefs'd with a Devil; how he fuffer'd in his Wifdom, by being call'd Impoftor, and treated like a Fool, and Mad-man; how he suffer'd in his Power, by being accus'd as a Magician, as one that dealt with a Familiar, and was in league with the Prince of Devils; how all forts of Perfons did contribute to his Suffering, a Difciple, whom he had nourifh'd, and brought up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord, Kings, and Governors, Judges, Harlots, Soldiers, High-Priefts, Scribes, Pharifees, Ecclefiafticks, Seculars, Jews and Gentiles, Men and Women. This puts us in mind, how every Member of his Body was put to grievous pain; How his Head was crown'd with Thorns, his Hair pluck'd off by the rude ufage he endur'd, his Cheeks beaten, his Face fullied, his Back crush'd, his Neck and Arms tied with Cords, his Shoulders bruised by the Cross, his Hands and Feet pierc'd with Nails, his Side open'd with a Lance, and his whole Body made black and blew with Stripes: How all Senfes fuffer'd, his Eyes feeing the Mockeries of the multitude, his Ears hearing the Blafphemies of his Enemies, his Smell forc'd to endure the stench of dead Bodies on Mount