many and so great, that it is owing to thy infinite goodness and mercy, that I have now an opportunity of humbling myself before thee, and begging mercy for my soul, which, I confess, has greatly sinned against thee.

For I still fear, I have too great a desire after the things of this world; too great a fondness for the profits and pleasures of it And though I am fully persuaded that it is my happiness and pleasure, as well as my duty to love and serve thee; yet I am very apt to forget thee, and to grow careless and remiss in that great and important work which thou hast given me to do. My devotion to thee is many times cold and languid; my prayers are full of wanderings, deadness, and distractions, and the very best of my religious duties are accompanied with so many failings and imperfections, that I have great cause to humble myself before thee.

O Lord, I have no hope but in thy mercy, and the infinite merits and passions of my dear redeemer; and if thou rejectest me, I am lost and undone for ever. Therefore remember that I am but dust, and turn not thy face from me, nor cast thy servant away in displeasure; let the intercessions of thy beloved Son prevail in my behalf: and for the

sake of his meritorious death and passion, for all that he has done, and all that he has suffered for me, have mercy upon me.

O Lord, pardon and forgive, I most earnestly and unfeignedly beseech thee, all the sins and follies of my life past; especially, O my God, lay not to my charge those sins [ Here may be named particulars] by which I have offended thee, my good and gracious Lord God. O cleanse me from all my secret and unknown transgressions, and vouchsafe, O merciful Father, to be reconciled unto me, who am sorry for my sins, and grieved that I have offended thee, my most gracious Lord and Master; for which, and all other thy repeated mercies to me, I owe all the returns of love and duty that can possibly be paid by a creature to thee his Creator.

O Lord! open thou mine eyes, that I may see the vileness and deformity, as well as danger of sin; that I may fly from all appearance of evil, and with an unwearied diligence follow after, and pursue the things that make for my everlasting peace. Grant, that for the time to come, I may live only unto thee, in an awful fear of thy great name, and a constant regard to thy blessed will, keeping always a conscience void of offence, both to

ward thee, my God, and toward all men ; that when thou shalt think fit to take me out of this state of trial and temptation here, I may be received into that blessed kingdom, where all tears shall be wiped from mine eyes, and sin and death shall be no more. Grant this, O merciful Father, through the merits and for the sake of the same thy dear son, and my blessed saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Here observe the directions given on page 8, and more particularly endeavour to improve your soul by reading a lesson out of the New Whole Duty of Man, Sunday iv, Sect. i.

Meditation for Friday Evening. Upon the sufferings of Jesus Christ commemorated in the sacrament of the Lord's supper.

For even hereunto were ye called ; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who his ownself bare our sins in his own body on the tree; that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. 1 Peter ii. 21, 24.

Now, my soul, thy dearest Lord is taken down from the cross; let us by the eye of faith and reason look nearer upon him: O what a man of sorrows, what a doleful spectacle do we behold! how pale, how wan, and extenuated, how mournful and doleful is his face! his eyes are sunk, his temples are fur

wed with the thorns. O the gashes and

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deep wounds of his shoulders and back, opened all with stripes! O the wide rendings of his hands and feet! his empty veins, his stretched-out sinews, his rankled flesh, how flaggy with stripes, how begored with blood! his hair clotted, and his whole body out of order; all this for sinners, for his enemies, for lost ungrateful man, even for us, O my soul! Come, O my soul, and compare thy love for Jesus with that he has shown for thee and all mankind. O confess thy remissness and thy sin. Say, O blessed Jesu! I adore thy love, and acknowledge my transgressions: for love brought thee down from heaven to us; but how few of us doth it carry up thither unto thee? Love made thee die the most shameful death; but it doth not make us live the most glorious life. Love made thee endure the sorest pains; but, alas! it doth not make mankind take the pleasure of following thy steps to the greatest happiness. Love made thee think perpetually on such poor wretches as we are; but we seldom think upon thee. Love persuaded thee to come to us when there was nothing to call thee, except only our great miseries; but it doth not bring us all to thee; though we are moved by the merits. and precious promises of so immense a love

Let not our devotion rest in bare acknowledgments, do not only praise his goodness, but dread his majesty; and let us show our love by our deeds; to him let us reverently go, and offer our devout hearts at his footstool; let us remember every passage of his love with unfeigned thanks. For the lord is sold, that the slave may be free; the innocent is condemned, that the guilty may be saved; the physician is sick, that the patient may be cured; and God himself becomes man to die, that man may live.

Tell me, my soul, when first thou hast well considered and looked about among all we know, tell me who ever wished us so much good? who ever loved us with so much tenderness? our nearest friends, what have they done for us; or even our parents, in comparison of this charity? No less than the Son of God came down to redeem us; no less than his own dear life was the price he paid for us what can the favour of the whole world promise us, compared to this miraculous bounty? No less than the joys of angels are become our hope; no less than the kingdom of heaven is made our inheritance.

This is the compassion of my God! thus far his charity prevailed; who thought it was