The PRAYER.
O Holy Jesu, Son of the Eternal God, thy Glory is far above all Heavens, and yet thou didst descend to Earth, that thy Descent might be the more gracious, by how much thy Glories were admirable, and natural, and inseparable: I adore thy holy Humanity with humble veneration, and the thankful addresses of religious joy, because thou hast personally united Humane nature to the Eternal Word, carrying it above the seats of the highest Cheru∣bim. This great and glorious Mystery is the honour and glory of man: it was the expectation of our Fathers, who saw the mysteriousness of thy Incarnation at great and obscure distances: And blessed be thy Name, that thou hast caused me to be born after the fulfilling of thy Pro∣phecies, and the consummation and exhibition of so great a love, so great mysteriousness. Ho∣ly Jesu, though I admire and adore the immensity of thy love and condescension, who wert plea∣sed to undergo our burthens and infirmities for us; yet I abhor my self, and detest my own im∣purities, which were so great and contradictory to the excellency of God, that to destroy Sia, and save us, it became necessary that thou shouldest be sent into the World, to die our death for us, and to give us of thy Life.
2.
DEarest Jesu, thou didst not breath one sigh, nor shed one drop of bloud, nor weep one tear, nor suffer one stripe, nor preach one Sermon for the salvation of the Devils: and what sadness and shame is it then, that I should cause so many insufferable loads of sorrows to fall upon thy sacred head? Thou art wholly given for me, wholly spent upon my uses, and wholly for every one of the Elect. Thou in the beginning of the work of our Redemption didst suffer nine months imprisonment in the pure Womb of thy Holy Mother, to redeem me from the eternal servitude of Sin and its miserable consequents. Holy Jesu, let me be born anew, re∣ceive a new birth and a new life, imitating thy Graces and Excellencies by which thou art beloved of thy Father, and hast obtained for us a favour and atonement. Let thy holy will be done by me, let all thy will be wrought in me, let thy will be wrought concerning me; that I may do thy pleasure, and submit to the dispensation of thy Providence, and conform to thy holy will, and may for ever serve thee in the Communion of Saints, in the society of thy redeemed ones, now and in the glories of Eternity.