Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

O what is thy servant, or what is my father's house, that the great and glorious God should look upon such a dead dog as I am?

What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me? For all that mercy which spared me when I deserved punishment; for all that patience which did not disdain to wait for my happy change; when so much goodness should at length lead me to repent

ance.

HOLY, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come; thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

FRIDAY.

UNTO thee will I cry, O Lord, and

early shall my prayer come before thee.

BLESSED art thou, O Lord, who didst, as on this day, command the earth to bring forth the living creature after his kind; cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, after their kind; that they might be serviceable to man for food, for cloathing, and for help in his labours:

And who madest man after thy own likeness, and didst bless him, and give him dominion over the fishi

6

fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over all the earth.

In which wonderful and most noble operation I behold, and thankfully admire, thy consultation about it, the work of thine own hand in it, thy breathing of life into him, whereby man became a living soul; the image of thy own divine mind impressed upon him; the government of creatures here below committed to him; the Paradise prepared for him; the charge given to thy Angels concerning him; the marvellous structure of his body, the several functions of his heart, his reins, his eyes, his ears, his tongue, his hands, his feet, and indeed his every part; for in all is he fearfully and wonder

fully made.

N 2

But

But still more useful and more amazing are the superior faculties of his soul; life, sensation, reason, intellect, free-will, memory, and conscience.

How amply also hast thou made provision for the exercise of these - noble faculties! By a revealed and written Law; by the oracles of inspired Prophets; by the melody of holy Psalms; by the profitable in struction of wise Proverbs and Parables; by the examples and experience to be gathered from faithful Histories; and by the typical worship of sacrifices, the shadows of greater and better things to come.

[ocr errors][merged small]

BLESSED art thou, O Lord, for that great and precious promise, which thou, in the bowels of thy mercy, didst vouchsafe to give the support of to our fallen parents; that the seed of the woman should break' the serpent's head; and for the pnnc-. tual accomplishment of that promise, which thou, in the fulness of time, wast pleased to make on this day.

Blessed be thou, O Lord, my God, and my Saviour, for the holy and bitter sufferings of this day! O grant, that what thou wert then content to endure for us men, and for our salvation, may be effectual, for the saving of my soul in particular.

« AnteriorContinuar »