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Bleffed be thy unfpeakable goodness, that has advanced me to fuch a degree of being, that I am in fome measure capable to know thee, to love thee, to ferve thee, and obey thee. And for ever bleffed be thy name, O Lord, that I was born of chriftian parents, and early dedicated to thee by baptifin; and that by thy grace and goodness I have been preserved to this moment, and have, in any degree, efcaped the pollutions of this wicked world.

Bleffed be thou, O God, who by thy grace, and by the voice of thy church, haft call'd me to repentance: difcover to me, O thou fearcher of hearts, the vaft charge that is against me, that I may know and confefs, and forfake the many fins I have fallen into. Give me that true repentance to which thou haft promised mercy and pardon, that I may amend what I have done amifs, and that iniquity may not be my ruin. And, O bleffed advocate, who ever liveft to make interceffion for me, I put my cause into thy hands; let thy blood and merits plead for me, and by thy mighty interceffion procure for me the pardon of my past offences. That thou mayft fay unto me, as thou didft unto the penitent in the gospel---Thy fins are forgiven--fo that I may go with a quiet confcience to thy holy table, and at last be re

ceived into thy glorious prefence for evermore. Amen. dan & was travmade aud

See the concluding prayer and blefting on page 36 and 6798

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*The Meditation: Thursday Morning. ! Upon our fanctification whereby we are made worthy to come to the holy facrament.

Except a man be born of water, and of the fpirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh, and that which is born of the fpirit, is fpirit. John iji. 59.

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Onfider, O my foul, the mercies of thy God; confider the wonders he has wrought for the children of men. The eternal father created us out of nothing, and fet us in the way to everlafting happinefs. The eternal fon came down from heaven to feek us when we had loft ourselves. The eternal fpirit brings his grace to fanctify us, and give us ftrength to walk in that holy way. Thus every perfon of the facred trinity has freely contributed his peculiar bleffing; and all together as one co-infinite goodness, have gracioufly agreed to complete our happiness.

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2. Come

Here you may obferve the directions given on page 3.

2. Come then let us humbly implore the divine grace to make us worthy to address our fanctifier; who from the father and the fon eternally proceeds, and with the father and the fon must be equally worshipped and glorified. He infufes into man the breath of life, and brings him forth in the fecond birth; a birth that makes men heirs of heaven, and gives us a title to everlasting happiness.

3. Arife, therefore, O iny foul, and intercede for pity upon the unhappy ftate of fallen mankind, which neither nature nor law could bring to perfection. For tho' they under the law were trained up in a fet form of difcipline, which grew and spread into a publick religion, and was uniformly profeffed by a whole nation; yet they had but weak conceits of the kingdom of heaven, and imperfect means to bring them thither: and as to those high and fupernatural mysteries, that fo glorioufly exalt the chriftian faith; they all were blind or in the dark, and dangerously exposed to the effects of their own ignorance, wanting those clear and powerful motives to love their God. God having provided fome better thing for us, that they without us fhould not be made perfect, Heb. xi. 40. Nevertheless, this prepared them

for thetimes of grace; fo that if any riper fouls came forward to the birth, there wanted fpirit to bring them forth; but fend out thy fpirit, O Lord, and they fhall be created; and from the death of fin, be raised to the life of holinefs; send out thy fpirit, and renew the face of the earth, and our weeds and thorns thall be turned into a paradife, thro' Jefus Chrift.

4. Let us adore that bleffed fpirit, who be ftoweth his favours as he pleafeth; and the more he hath given, ftill the more he giveth! Oholy ghoft, fit and difpofe me thy fervant, firft to entertain thee, and then gracioufly vouchfafe to defcend into my heart; and make me, the more I receive of thee, ftill defire to I receive thee more; till I fhall afcend to those fatisfying joys above, where all my faculties fhall be enlarged, where they fhall be filled with fulness itself, and overflow with a torrent of pleasure for evermore; where they shall be fatisfied with the plenteousness of thy houfe; and thou shalt give them drink of thy pleasures, as out of the river; for with thee is the well of life, and in thy light fhall we fee light. Pfal. xxxvi. 8, &c.

5. But, O ungrateful man! was it not enough to receive of our God all we have and are? was it not enough that the fon of God D 2 fhould

fhould come down, and live to teach thee and die to redeem thee? was not all this e nough to make thee love him? and love is all he aimed at, and was all that man needed. I must confess to thee, O merciful Lord: I will confefs to thee our deplorable condition. Such was, alas! the corruption of human nature, and fo many and strong the temptations round about us, that without this thy laft miraculous favour of fending the holy ghoft to guide and quicken us, we fhould have ftill remained in our old dull ftate; flow to understand, and flower to obey.

A prayer on Thursday morning, for our fanctification, preparatory to a worthy receiving of the holy facrament.

Whom he called, them he alfo juftified and whom he uftified, them he alfo glorified. Rom. viii. 30.

Ternally bleffed, and infinitely glorious

E Lord God and Saviour, who keepest

mercy for thousands, and forgiveft the iniquities of all truly penitent and returning finners; I prefent myself this morning before thee, acknowledging my manifold fins, in hopes of obtaining thy gracious favour, and of becoming a partaker of the most holy facrament. But, O my God, I do not prefume

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