Page images
PDF
EPUB

V. It is not the commiffion of this or that great fin that will utterly exclude us from God's mercy and forgiveness, for then, indeed, no perfon could efcape damnation, because there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and finneth not.* But it is our living and dying without repentance and amendment, that brings God's wrath and vengeance upon us. And as his mercies are not limited, he will not only pardon us once or twice, but always upon our repentance and return to him. For he excepts against no time, no age, nor feafon, but whenever the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doth that which is lawful and right, he fhall fave his foul alive.+ Neither is there any fin though never fo vile and heinous in its own nature, but fhall be remitted and forgiven, unless it be that against the Holy Ghoft. Therefore,

VI. I am refolved, that my frequent failings fhall not discourage me from attempting again and again, till I have gained. my point. I am fully convinced that there is nothing else to do, and that it is abfolutely neceffary I fhould refolve again and again, until my refolutions have taken effect, that I may reapgood fruit unto falvation.

Ecclef. vii. 20.

F

+ Ezek. xviii. 27. John vi. 36. Rom. vi. 22. James iii, 18.

The

The Hymn for Thursday Morning.

The penitent communicant refolves to amend his future life.

L

ORD, grant thy ftatutes every hour
May dwell upon my mind;

Thence I derive a quick'ning power,
And daily peace I find.

To meditate thy precepts, Lord,
Shall be my fweet employ ;
My foul fhall ne'er forget thy word,
Thy word is all my joy.

How would I run in thy commands,
If thou my heart discharge
From fin and Satan's hateful chains,
And fet my feet at large!

My lips with courage fhall declare
Thy ftatutes and thy name;

I'll speak thy words, tho' kings fhould hear,
Nor yield to finful shame.

Let bands of perfecutors rife,

To rob me of my right:

Let pride and malice forge their lies,
Thy law is my delight.*

Depart from me, ye wicked race,
Whofe hands and hearts are ill;
I love my God, I love his ways,
And must obey his will.

*Pfalm cxix. 77, 174.

The

The Prayer on Thursday Morning.

For God's bleffing on the amendment of our lives. LORD, who haft made, and doft govern

and preferve all things, I poftrate myfelf before thee in an humble adoration of thy incomprehenfible majefty, acknowledging that I depend entirely on thee, and render to thee my most hearty thanks, for all the favours and benefits which thou haft fo freely and undefervedly conferred upon me.

All thy works praife thee, O Lord, and we, the children of men, who have received fingular marks and tokens of thy favour, ought more particularly to praise and glorify thy holy name, being made after thy own image, and endued with reafonable and immortal fpirits, that we may reflect on thee the author of our being, and imitate thy wifdom, holiness, goodnefs, and truth. But above all,

I defire to remember that great demonftration of thy love in giving thy dear Son to live amongst us, to die for us, and thereby to give us, upon the condition of faith and fincere obedience, an affured hope of immortal life, which I fo lately commemorated in the facrament of the Lord's Supper; in which I fealed my love to thee, and renewed the obligation which I have often made of my foul and body to thee.

[blocks in formation]

I wait upon thec ftill for what thou feest good for them both; which I hope in thy everlasting mercy to obtain; humbly befeeching thee to pardon all my forgetfulness of thee; and I moft earnestly implore the grace of thy Holy Spirit, to preserve in my mind a powerful fenfe of thee, an ardent love to thee, and an holy care to please and obey thee in all things; and to this end I beseech thee give me the fame mind and spirit which was in Christ Jefus our Lord; the fpirit of wisdom and understanding, and the fear of thee; the spirit of meekness, humility, purity, and charity. And,

Grant that I may do thy will with the like chearfulness, zeal, conftancy, patience, and perfeverance as he did that fo I may for ever blefs thy name, O Lord, for all the helps and affiftances of thy good fpirit, which thou haft already bleffed me withal.

I acknowledge thee in all my ways; do thou direct my paths, and teach me to manage all my affairs with prudence and difcretion; for thou art my hope and confidence; my fatisfaction, and my peace; my glory and my joy. O be pleased to conduct me by thy good fpirit, thro' all the temptations and troubles of this mortal life to that bleffed place where our Lord Jefus Christ is gone before, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the fame fpirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The

The Meditation for Thursday Evening.

Upon a lively faith in God's mercy thro' Chrift, and a quiet confcience.

Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith-For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,-faith, without which it is impoffible to please God. 2 Cor. xiii. 4. Gal. v. 22. Heb. xi. 6.

1.

REMEMBER, O my foul ! that the

Church exhorts us, and tells us in exprefs words, it is requifite that no man fhould come to the holy Communion but with a full trust in God's mercy, and with a quiet conscience ;* whence we learn, that the benefits of our Saviour's death and paffion in this facrament are indeed freely offered unto all, but only effectually to believers, as we read in St. John, as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe in his name.

II. All that Christ hath done and suffered for us men and for our falvation can never profit us, unless we have faith to believe it: that which must render the benefit and bleffings of the gospel effectual to our falvation, is our faith in Chrift, who himself declares, that whoever heareth his words, and believeth on him that fent him, hath eternal life and fhal

See the exhortation to the Communion Service.

not

« PreviousContinue »