The Prayer. Dearest Jesu, since thou art pleased to enter into me, O be jealous of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth : suffer no unclean spirit or unholy thought to come near thy dwelling, lest it defile the ground, where thy holy feet have trod. O teach me so to walk, that I may never disrepute the honour of my religion, nor stain the holy robe which thou hast now put upon my soul, nor break my holy vows which I have made, and thou hast sealed, nor lose my right of inheritance, my privilege of being co-heir with Jesus, into the hope of which I have now farther entered: but be thou pleased to love me with the love of a father, and a brother, and a husband, and a Lord; and make me to serve thee in the communion of saints, in receiving the sacrament, in the practice of all holy virtues, in the imitation of thy life, and conformity to thy sufferings: that I having now put on the Lord Jesus, may marry his loves and his enmities, may desire his glory, may obey his laws, and be united to his Spirit, and in the day of the Lord I may be found having on the wedding-garment; and bearing in my body and soul the marks of the Lord Jesus, that I may enter into the joy of my Lord, and partake of his glories for ever and ever. Amen. Ejaculations to be used any time that day, after the solemnity is ended. Lord, if I had lived innocently, I could not have deserved to receive the crumbs that fall from thy table. How great is thy mercy, who hast feasted me with manna from heaven! O when shall I pass from this dark glass, from this veil of sacraments, to the vision of thy eternal charity from eating thy body, to beholding thy face in thy eternal kingdom? Let not my sins crucify the Lord of life again: let it never be said concerning me, "The hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table." O that I might love thee as well as ever any creature loved thee! Let me think nothing but thee, desire nothing but thee, enjoy nothing but thee. O Jesus, be a Jesus unto me. Thou art all things unto me. Let nothing ever please me, but what savours of thee and thy miraculous sweetness. Blessed be the mercies of our Lord, who of God is made unto me wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Amen. THE END OF THE RULE OF HOLY LIVING. THE RULE AND EXERCISES OF HOLY DYING. BY THE RIGHT REVEREND JEREMY TAYLOR, D.D. LORD BISHOP OF DOWN AND CONNOR, AND DROMORE. REVISED, ABRIDGED, AND ADAPTED TO BY THE REV. WILLIAM HALE HALE, M.A. PREBENDARY OF ST. PAUL'S, PREACHER OF THE CHARTER-HOUSE, AND CHAPLAIN TO THE LORD BISHOP OF LONDON. A |