Devotions for the Sunday next before Easter, called Palm Sunday. TO-DAY our Saviour entered Jerusalem in triumph. Come let us adore him. Rejoice, O daughter of Zion! shout for gladness, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh to thee, the just One, and thy Saviour. Hosanna in the highest. Strew the way for his triumph, and cry aloud, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. He cometh to thee, meek and lowly, and riding on a colt, the foal of an ass. Hosanna in the highest. Lift up thy voice, and cry-Lo, this is the Lord, whom we have long expected; he himself is come to redeem us; lo this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save Hosanna! This is the Lord, we have waited for him; even our God, whom we have long looked for; O let us be glad, and rejoice in his salvation. us. Hosanna in the highest. God, teach us, we beseech thee, by the solemnities of this day which ushers in by a triumph the Saviour's bitter passion, to remember the fickleness of the glory of the world; and so by thy grace mortify in us our esteem of its best deserved applauses, and bring us cheerfully to bear its crosses, that we finally may be partakers of the eternal glories on which our Saviour Christ hath entered; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen. During Passion-Week add to the ordinary Devotions for Lent the following: MONDAY. ALMIGHTY Father, who hast given thy only begotten Son to be unto us both a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of meek and patient suffering, of righteousness and holiness of life; give us grace, that we may always, and at this time especially, thankfully receive that his inestimable benefit, and also daily endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life, and to be conformed to his death and sufferings, unto thy eternal glory, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. LE TUESDAY. ET thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy poor frail creatures; and so strengthen and animate us by thy heavenly succours and consolations, that we may be always ready to suffer for thy holy name; and following the suffering steps of thy Son Jesus Christ, in all lowliness, meekness, and patience, even unto death itself, may at length attain the blessed hope of thy kingdom, through the same, thy well-beloved Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever more. Amen. WEDNESDAY. Lord God Almighty, who to redeem lost mankind, didst suffer thy only Son to be at this time betrayed and sold into the hands of his enemies, by one of his own disciples and familiar friends; grant us, by the help of thy Spirit, always to detest und abhor our own sins, which, no less than the traitor Judas, was the occasion of the Saviour's death. Mercifully sustain us by thy grace, that we may never, after having tasted the good word of life, fall from thee, through covetousness or any other temptation; but may steadfastly persevere unto the end, under all trials, in the fellowship of thy Word and Spirit, and in the communion of all Saints both in heaven and earth, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Devotions to be used on the Thursday before Easter, instead of the other Devotions for the Season of Lent. OUR UR Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my body, which was given for you: Do this in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord's death till he come. OUR UR Lord Jesus, rising from supper, laid aside his gar ments, and took a towel and girded himself; after that, he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disci ples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. After he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done unto you? You call me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet; for I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you. GRANT, O Lord Jesus Christ, that as thy Church doth this day devoutly and reverently commemorate the institution of thy holy supper, so we, with all the true members of thy Church, may, through a living faith and charity, spiritually partake of thy most precious body and blood, till' we come at length to sit down with thee in thy kingdom, to celebrate the everlasting festival of love. And as thou didst also this day give us an example of thy great and profound humility, by condescending to wash even the feet of thy disciples, we beseech thee to instil into our hearts the very same humility, and to cleanse and purify us from our sins, that so we may be clothed with thy righteousness; and after a short time of suffering here, may live and reign with thee for ever, world without end. Amen. [Add the Collect for the Day.] 'Devotions to be added to our other Devotions on those Days when the Holy Communion is administered. FOR THE MORNING. Am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eat of this bread, he shall live for ever. This is my body which is given for you. This is my blood which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins. O sweet and sacred feast! wherein Christ himself is by lively symbols received by the faithful; and the memory of his passion forcibly renewed. O exalted and inestimable feast! wherein our minds are filled with grace; and our future glory secured to us by dear and precious pledges, In the strength of this bread we will steadfastly walk, Even to the mountain of the God of our salvation.` Alleluja. ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love and mercy, didst give thy only Son to suffer death upon the cross for us miserable sinners, who lay in darkness and the shadow of death; grant, we beseech thee, that we, duly celebrating a perpetual memory of this his precious death and sacrifice until his coming again, may be partakers of his most blessed body and blood; be filled with his spirit and life; and being made thy children, may finally be exalted to an inheritance everlasting, to the bosom of this thy Son Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and Redeemer. Amen. WE FOR THE EVENING. WE have tasted and seen how good the Lord is; Therefore our souls shall magnify him for ever. We will rejoice in God our Saviour; From this time forth, for evermore. For unto us is given the bread of life; ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, we most heartily desire to bless and magnify thy holy name, for the inestimable gift of the body and blood of thy Son, which we have this day spiritually received under lively symbols; grant that, being incorporated into his mystical body, the blessed company of the faithful, we may be evermore refreshed by his mercy, and guided by his grace. From this day forth, we offer up ourselves, our souls and bodies, to thy disposal, to be a reasonable and living sacrifice rendered acceptable unto thee, through the one full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice of this thy Son, our only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. WH Office of Devotion for Good-Friday. OFFICE FOR THE MORNING. WHEN we had sold ourselves to sin, and had all become the slaves of Satan; the blessed Jesus descended from Heaven, and shed his blood to purchase our redemption. Come, let us adore our God who redeemed us. C c Let us consecrate this day to holy meditation on his unparalleled sufferings; repenting from our hearts of our many sins, and thankfully adoring his infinite mercies. Come, let us adore our God who redeemed us. Let us wean our minds from worldly concerns, and mortify our passions by holy self-denial; that, carried on the wings of fasting and alms, our prayers may ascend more swiftly to Heaven. Come, let us adore our God who redeemed us. PSALM. My God! who can complain of doing too much, when they consider the labour of Jesus! When he might have flown on the wings of the cherubim ; he chose to walk with us worms of the dust. When he might have commanded manna from heaven; in the sweat of his brows he would eat his bread. When he might have made the angels his footstool; he rather became the servant of his parents. It was thy meat and drink to do thy Father's will; O Jesus, make it ours to perform thine. My God! who can repine at suffering too much, when they remember the afflictions of Jesus! Those many afflictions which he so patiently endured; whose weight he bore with holy resignation. Even from his humble cradle in the manger of Bethlehem, to his bitter cross on the mount of Calvary. We wear the badge of a crucified Saviour; and shall we shrink back at every cross we meet ? We believe in a Lord who was crowned with thorns; and shall we expect to tread on nothing but roses? Before our eyes, O Jesus, we see thee humble and meek; and shall thy servants be proud and insolent? We see thee travel up and down, poor and unregarded; and shall thy followers expect to be rich and esteemed? Thy charitable labours were maliciously slandered; and shall we not have the patience to hear our faults reproved? Thou disdainedst not to be called in scorn the Carpenter's Son; and cannot we bear to receive injury and insult? O how unlike are we to the blest Redeemer, who descended from Heaven to become our pattern! How do we go astray from the sacred path, which the holy Jesus traced with his own steps! |