WHEN a natural eye looks upon the sacrament. -to wit, of the LORD'S SUPPER-it finds in it a bare and mean kind of ceremony. Take care there be not any of you that come to it, and par. take of it, with others who prize it little, have but few conceits of it, and do indeed find as little in it as they look for. But what precious consolation and grace doth a believer meet with at this banquet how richly is the table furnished to his eye! what plentiful varieties employ his hand and taste! what abundance of rare dain.. ties! Yet there is nothing but One here; but that One is all things to the believing soul; it finds his love is sweeter than the richest wine to the taste, or best odours to the smell; and that delightful word of his, "thy sins are forgiven thee," is the only music to a distressed conscience.-ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON. Prayers BEFORE COMMUNION. I. BLESSED JESUS, do thou so open my eye of faith to discern thy body and blood in this holy sacrament; do thou so dispose me at this time that I may feel all the happy effects of thy own divine institution; that my soul may receive such lasting impressions of thy goodness, and be so filled with the love of thee, and with the incomparable delights of thy service, and with such an early foretaste of heaven, that all the pleasures of sin may appear to me tasteless and unwelcome. O heavenly Father, clothe me with thy wedding-garment, even the graces of my blessed Saviour; for then I am sure to be a welcome guest at thy table, when I shall come thither in the likeness of thy own well-beloved Son, in whom thou art always well pleased. O heavenly Father, fill me with a lively faith, profound humility, filial obedience, pure affections, and universal charity. Oh, raise in my soul all that zeal and devotion, that love and desire, that joy and delight, that praise and thanksgiving, which become the remembrance of a crucified Saviour; and that for his sake only that redeemed me: in whose holy words I sum up all the graces and blessings of which I stand in need. Our Father, &c. II. BISHOP KEN. O God and Father, bestow on me such a measure of that Spirit through which thy Son offered himself, as may sanctify for ever the body and soul which now I offer, and may likewise help me to perform the service which I do promise; a spirit of contrition, that I may abhor those sins which did deliver my God to death; a spirit of holiness, that I may never be tempted to them again, any more than a crucified man can be tempted. Oh, let this crucified body, which I present to thee as such, never be untied from his cross, to return afresh to folly and vanity. Arm and rod of the Lord, who didst revenge my sins on thy own Son, in thy mercy correct and destroy them also in me. O my God, accept of a heart that sheds now before thee its tears, as a poor victim does its blood, and that raises up unto thee all its desires, its thoughts, its zeal, as a burnt-offering doth its flames. And since my sacrifice can neither be holy nor accepted being alone, accept of it, Ö Father, as it is an oblation supported by that sacrifice which alone is able to please thee. Receive it, clothed with the righteousness of thy Son, and made acceptable with that holy perfume which rises from off his altar; and grant that he who sanctifies and they who are by him sanctified, may be joined in one passion, and may enjoy hereafter with thee the same glory. Amen. III. DR. BREVINT. O blessed Saviour, I, a poor unworthy sinner, have an earnest longing to come to thy table; but, considering my many and grievous sins, I tremble and fear to approach unto it. I come therefore to thee, the fountain of mercy, hoping that thou wilt wash me; I come to thee, the good Samaritan, hoping thou wilt cleanse my wounds: I open my grief, and discover my iniquities to thee; I look upon my sins, great and grievous, and thereupon tremble; yet, beholding thy mercies great |