and prepare me for a meeting with my Saviour. Lord, thou art the giver of grace as well as of glory, thou muft give the frame as well as the feaft; for without thee we have nothing, we can do nothing; thou prepareft a table for me in this wildernefs; but, fhall the time of receiving come before thou comeft into my foul to ftir up thy graces in me? What commerce can a dead heart have with a living God? Lord, thou knoweft my fins, and the unpreparedness of my heart; and, if thou wilt mark iniquity, O Lord, who fhalt ftand? My very preparations and beft performances carry in them matter of indictment against my foul. But, Lord, though my fins be many and great, yet doth not the blood of Chrift cry louder for pardon than my fins do for punishment? O that the cry of that blood may wholly drown the cry of my fins at this time, and anfwer for the defects of my preparation. Oh, let not my foul, whofe only hope is to be faved by Christ's blood, be fent away from his table with the guilt, inftead of the comfort of that blood upon me. 2. And, more particularly, you ought to pray for fav. ing knowledge: Say, "Lord, I am naturally alienated and eftranged from thee, thro' the ignorance that is in me; O give me understanding, that I may know thee, and the mystery of faving grace. Haft thou not said, that the covenant thou wilt make with thy people is this, "They fhall all know thee from the least even to the greatest?" O give me right up-takings of thy covenant, which is well ordered in all things, and fure! Give grace to know the nature, neceffity, ufe, and ends of this ordinance, which is the compend and feal of it, that fo I may receive it with understanding, and rightly difcern the Lord's body." 3. Pray for holy reverence and humility of spirit, "Lord, affect my heart with aweful reverence of the greatness and holiness of thy majefty, to whom I am to make fo near an approach, and with whom I am to renew covenant. Oh, how durft I, who am finful duft and afhes, prefume to come fo near thee, unless thou hadst invited and commanded me? O for deep felf-abasement and humility of foul when I go to receive the unfpeak able able gift of God! O what a wonderful gift is Jefus Chrift to fuch an unworthy and ill-deferving creature as I am! Lord, give me grace whereby I may serve thee acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. 4. Pray for godly forrow and contrition for fin "Lord, take away my heart of ftone. and give me a heart of flesh, that I may lothe myself in my own fight for all my iniquities and abominations. May I abhor them. as the fcourges, thorns, nails, and fpear, that afflicted my Lord and Saviour: And may I be weary and heavy laden with the burden of my fins, fo that Chrift may give me reft. Lord, help me fo to accuse myself, that thou mayeft acquit me; fo to judge and condemn myself, that thou mayeft abfolve me; and fo to exercise a holy revenge upon myself, that thou mayeft fpare me. The days of mourning for my Redeemer's death are at hand; O that then I may flay my most beloved lufts, and be revenged on them for it, and for their endeavours to rob me of my fpiritual birthright, my eternal bleffednefs! O that I may come to thy table, and receive a bleeding Saviour with a broken heart." 5. Pray for faith, both for the being and the increase of faith. "Lord, faith is thy own gift, as well as Chrift; I believe, Lord, help my unbelief. O for faith's eye to look upon Chrift, faith's wings to flee to Chrift, faith's arms to embrace Chrift, faith's mouth to feed on Christ, faith's hard to apply Chrift! When I fee the bread and wine on the table, O let me fee a bleeding crucified Jefus. Let me not only eat the bread of the Lord, but the bread which is the Lord. May this ordinance be a lively refemblance, remembrance, and application of Chrift's fufferings to me; and may I be helped fo to put my finger into the print of the nails, and my hand into his fide, that I may be perfuaded of his fuffering and dying for me; and may I"not be faithlefs but believing," and may say with Thomas, "My Lord and my God;" and with Paul," He loved me, and gave himself for me;" and with the spouse, "My beloved is mine, and I am his." O that I may fo touch him, that I may feel ftrength, peace, and virtue come from him, and be healed of all my plagues and uncleanneffes! Let me fo by faith faith feed on his bleffed body, and bathe my foul in his precious blood, that I may be filled with peace and joy in believing; yea, "s my foul may magnify the Lord, and my fpirit rejoice in God my Saviour." 6. Pray for love to God and Chrift. "Lord, circumcife my heart to love the Lord with all my foul, with all my ftrength. Lord, fhed abroad thy love in my cold and frozen heart, and inflame it with fervent affection and defires towards thee, that I may be a difciple whom Jefus loveth, and that leans on his breaft. O that "Chrift 86 may dwell in my heart by faith, and that, being rooted and grounded in love, I may be able to comprehend with all faints, what is the breadth and length, the depth and heighth: and to know the love of Chrift, which paffeth knowledge." O that the remembrance of Chrift's love may tranfport me with love, captivate my will, and engage all my affections to him. Lord, tho' I cannot fay, I am fick of love to thee, yet I defire to be fick that I cannot love thee more. O for grace that I may be numbered among them that love the Lord Jefus Chrift in fincerity." 7. Pray for love to all the people of God. "Lord, make all those lovely in mine eyes, to whom Chrift is precious: That I may " know I am paffed from death to life, because I love the brethren." O for a warm love to all those who are Christ's friends, on whom he hath fet his heart, and to whom he hath given his Spirit; that fo my heavenly Father may look down upon his children, feafting together in mutual love and delight, in remembrance of that great love which he hath already fhewn to us, and with joyful expectations of thefe great things he hath further promifed to us. And, Lord, feeing thou haft fo loved me, let me be perfectly reconciled to every man, that I may "love my very enemies, and do good to them that hate me." May every fpark of anger, malice, and envy, be utterly extinguished in me." 8. Pray for new obedience. "Lord, fince thou givest this heavenly feaft only to thy difciples, O make me one of them, and let me attain this mark of a difciple, obedience to my mafter. Lord, I cannot eat the paff ! over and ftay in Egypt ftill, in the fervice of Satan, and in bondage to my lufts: O bring my foul out of prifon, and let me eat the paffover with my loins girt, and ready to march towards the promised land. O help me to wash my hands in innocence, that fo I may encompass thy altar. O make me willing and obedient, that I may eat the good of this ordinance. And may the love of Christ reftrain me to a courfe of fincere univerfal obedience, that I may run in the ways of thy commandments. Seeing Chrift offers himself to me, by way of furrender, to receive him as a Saviour, and fubmit to him as a prince. And, on that folemn feast of dedication, let me come and dedicate myself to thee, fet myself apart for thee, that all my days I may live to thy praife." 9. Pray for heart-purity, fixedness and spirituality, that you may be fit to entertain converfe with a holy God. "Lord, help me to lay afide and leave behind me all vain, earthly and unfeasonable thoughts and imaginations, that I may attend upon thee without dif traction. Ó let not worldly or wandering thoughts come in, to stir up or difturb the beloved of my foul: Let them not come near, or displease him: Nor call me away from entertaining and enjoying of him. Lord, bid them be gone. Alas! my heart is naturally in great diforder, and wholly indifpofed for fuch folemn and fpiritual work: But, O thou who calleft me to it, do thou difpofe my heart for it." 10. Pray for fpiritual hunger and thirft. Lord, thos art ready to give bread to the hungry, and the water of life to him that is a thirft: But both the appetite and the food, the feeling of want and the relief, are from thee. O for enlarged affections and defires after this ordinance anfwerable to my need of it. Lord, create and stir up in me earnest longings and a fpiritual appetite after this heavenly food; that fo with defire I may defire to eat this paffover." As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, fo let me pant after thee, O God. Lord, enlarge my heart, and open my mouth wide, that thou mayeft fill it."" ་ 11. Pray for fpiritual thankfulness, and holy joy, in partaking of this feaft. "O make me to relish this heavenly food, and receive it with a thankful heart. Let me not fit fad and dejected, as if I liked not the provifion, or thought myfelf not welcome: But take me into the banqueting houfe, and let my foul be fatisfied as with marrow and fatnefs, that my mouth may praise thee with joyful lips. I am to feed on angels food, O let me be employed in angels work, praife., Let my foul rejoice in Jefus Chrift as my portion; and triumph in his mighty acts, in his victories and purchase." 12. Pray for the affiftance of God's Spirit in this work. "Lord, caft me not away from thy prefence, take not thy holy Spirit from me; for without thee I have nothing. I can do nothing. Lord, thou haft promised, and declared thyfelf more willing to give the Spirit to them that ask it, than parents to give bread to their children. Our love to our children is but hatred, our compaffion hardness, in comparison of thine to thy children: O do not then deny me when my need is fo great. Thou never faidft to any of the feed of Jacob, feck ye my face in vain. Lord, fend thy holy Spirit to breathe on my dry bones and decayed graces, and to be the harbinger to provide entertainment for thy Son in my foul, that he may find it swept of all fin, and garnished with all the facramental graces. O for the Spirit of God to adorn my naked foul, and put on me the wedding-garment, viz. the glorious outer garment of the righteoufnefs of thy Son, and the beautiful inner garment of the holinefs of thy Spirit, that fine linen of the faints: That all my nakednefs may be covered, and my great deformities hid from thine eyes!" 13. Pray for the cure of all thy diseases, at this healing ordinance. "Lord, my plagues are great, my wounds deep, and my diftempers many: But I have heard of the balfam of the new covenant, my Redeemer's blood, that heals all diseases. "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there not a phyfician there ?" Oh, then, let not my pain be perpetual, nor my wounds incurable. Lord, I come to thee to get my dead foul quickened, my ftrong corruptions fubdued, my faint purposes ftrengthened |