: cy, both which thou haft fo wonderfully dif played in the method of our redemption by Jefus Chrift; that I may receive the pledges of thy forgiving love, and the memorials of my Saviour's bloody paffion, with a lively faith, an abounding hope, with gratitude unfeigned, and joy unfpeakable and may fo feel the attractive influence of his example,. the efficacy of his death, and the power of his refurrection, that I may have my whole foul transformed into love; be all kindness and charity to men, and zeal for God and Jefus; may die unto fin, and live unto righteousness; be able to tread on all the power of the enemy; to deny myself, defpife the blandishments and temptations of the world; have my converfation in heaven, and overcome all oppofition in the way to it: and, finally, after having loved, and ferved, and followed my Saviour without feeing him, may be with him, according to his own prayer, where he is, to behold his glory; and, with all the heavenly multitudes, afcribe bleffing, and honour, and glory, and power, unto him that fitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever! At At the LORD's Table. O SEC T. I. My foul, the happy, the wifhed-for time is come, but will quickly be gone again! Lay hold of the opportunity, make the utmost advantage of it, that, when paft and gone, it may not be loft. Turn away thine eyes from beholding vanity, and look unto Jefus. Be all attention and reverence, thy thoughts united and elevated, every power engaged, and all thy affections prefent to wait on thy Lord, and minifter to him at his table. AND O thou, who alone knoweft the hearts of all men, and alone haft them in thy power, the almighty and omnipotent God! help thou mine infirmities; fix my mind, prone else to wander; caufe every good feed thy hand hath fown to fpring up; perfect thine own work; fpeak peace to my foul; bid every vain and every tumultuous paffion be ftill: the facrifice is ready, fend down the facred fire, and help me in the fame act to honour the Father and the Son, that I may have fellowship with both! SECT SECT. III. BEhold, my foul, the Lamb of God which taketh away the fin of the world! Rightly is he called a Lamb, whofe innocence was fpotlefs, and his meeknefs and patience invincible; and the Lamb of God, for his fuperior excellence and dignity, and his being chofen to this office by the Father. He was led as a lamb to the flaughter, and as a sheep before his fhearers is dumb, fo he opened not his mouth; neither guile or complaint was found in his mouth, much lefs curfing and bitterness. Doft thou profefs thyself a follower of the Lamb, and glory in the title? Learn then of him to be harmlefs and blameless, meek and lowly in heart, alike averfe from doing or deferving evil, and ready to fuffer it. BUT UT how does the Lamb of God take away fin? By bearing it in his own body on the tree. He was wounded for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him. O heavy load, which funk the Son of God in his body to the grave; and, had it lain unremoved, would have funk the world into ruins! Worthy is the Lamb that was flain, to receive power, and riches, and wifdom, and firength, and honour, and glory, and bleffing. SECT. THI "His is the body of Chrift. This facramental bread is intended to fignify and reprefent the body of Chrift, that was given for us, as an offering and sacrifice to God, for a sweetSmelling favour; and broken for us, as the bread in this facrament is broken before it is diftributed. His facred flesh was torn and disfigured with the fcourges, pierced and violated with the nails and the fpear. The Lamb that was seen in the midst of the throne, had before been stretched on the cross; made a fpectacle to God, to angels, and to men; highly approved and accepted of the first, adored by the fecond, mourned by fome, derided and infulted over by others of the laft. O my foul, in thy judgment of this crucified Jefus, take for thy guide the only wife God, and for thy pattern in thy behaviour towards him, faints and angels! DIdft thou, O Jefus, with whom the most precious things, and most excellent beings that can be named among creatures, are not once to be compared, didft thou give thy facred felf for me on the cross? and art thou ready to give thyfelf to me in thy fupper? I give, I confecrate myfelf, without the leaft referve, to thee. I could wish I was more worthy worthy of thy acceptance. But fuch as I have, and am, give I unto thee; and I give it heartily, as unto the Lord, to whom I confefs myself to owe more than I can give. O do thou make me more like thyfelf, fhed more of thy beauty and loveliness upon me, fanctify me in every part and power, help me to be more perfect in every divine attainment, that I may be lefs unworthy of thee! And, to the facrifice of thy broken body, grant, O my Saviour, I may be able to join the facrifice of a broken and contrite heart, which thou wilt not defpife! Thou diedst for me, to thee I will henceforth live! SE C T. VII. MY bleffed Saviour did not fuffer in his body only. No; it was the least part of his fufferings that was visible: his foul was forrowful even unto death; and laboured under fuch an agony in the garden, that he fweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground; prayed, Father, if poffible, let this cup pafs from me; and had an angel dispatched exprefs to comfort him. Nay, he was heard crying out on the cross, My God, my God, why haft thou forfaken me? Strange language for the Son of God! Does God forfake his own Son? the holy, the merciful God, his innocent, his well-beloved Son? He does for a time, fo as to fufpend the ufual irradiations of his countenance, and to leave |