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In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, &c.
Blessed be the Holy and undivided Trinity. Amen.
We are not our own, but the Temples of the Holy Ghost, let us dedicate our selves entirely to him.
COme, let us now prepare our Hearts; and humbly offer this our Evening Sacrifice.
Let us clear our Heads of all other Thoughts; that fill us, at best, with no∣thing but emptiness.
Let us remember our God is a pure Spi∣rit; and delights to dwell in a clean Ta∣bernacle.
He will not enter into a Soul that is subject to Sin; nor stay where he finds his Grace neglected.
If he vouchsafe us the Blessings of a vi∣sit; and O how sweet and ravishing is his Presence!
Let us open wide our Bosoms to receive him; and summon all our Powers to en∣tertain him.
Come my Understanding, and bring all thou knowest; all that enlightens thee in the way to Felicity.
Come my Will, and call in all thy Loves; and contract them into one, and settle it here for ever.
Come my Memory, with all thy swarms of Notions; and forget them all but what concerns thy Eternity.
Come my whole Soul, with these thy Faculties about thee; and prostrate adore the eternal Spirit.
Behold he is now with us, and sits in our Hearts, as on his Throne; to receive our Petitions, and give us his Blessings.
He never will forsake us, if we chase him not away; but guide and comfort us with his holy Inspirations.
Come then, and with devoutest Reve∣rence attend; and hear what the Lord our God will say.
He leads us thus into Retirement and Si∣lence; and there familiarly speaks to our Hearts.
Tell me, O you design'd for everlasting Happiness! tell me now freely, for none shall interrupt us:
What do you chiefly delight to think of? What do you aim at in all your Thoughts?
Consider well the Question I propose; and when you have examin'd your selves, give me your answer.
O thou our merciful, though offended, God! behold thus low we bow our guilty Heads:
Blushing for Shame to see our Folly; and so much the more to see our Duty.
Happy were we, if we could be still thinking of thee; and raise all those Thoughts into Desires to be with thee.
Happy were we could we always feel those Fervours; of which sometimes thou inspirest a little Spark.
O were that Spark kindled into a Fire; and that Fire blown up into a continual Flame.
But we alas are hot and cold by Fits; and which is worse, our cold Fit lasts the longer.
Some few half Hours we spend in Pray∣ers; and many whole Days in Idleness and Vanity.
Sometimes we bestow a little on the Poor; and often throw away a great deal on our Passions.
Sometimes we deny and mortify our selves; but far more obey our sensual Ap∣petites.
Sometimes we are drawn by thy Grace to do a good work; but seduced by our Nature to a thousand Iniquities.
Thus we confess to thee, O Lord our God! who perfectly sees every corner of our Hearts!
Thus we confess to thee, not that thou may'st know us, but that we may know our selves, and thou may'st cure us.
Cure us, O thou great Physician of Souls! cure us of all our sinful Distem∣pers.
Cure us of this aguish intermitting Pi∣ety; and fix us into an even and a con∣stant Holiness.
O make us use Religion as our regular Diet; and not only as a single Medicine in a pressing Necessity.
Make us enter into a course of hearty Repentance; and practise Vertue as our daily exercise.
So shall our Souls be endu'd with a per∣fect Health; and disposed for a long, even an everlasting Life.
Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c.
Quicken us by thy Grace, O Holy Spi∣rit, that we may thorowly mortify the works of the Flesh.
NOW we have begun, permit us, mighty Lord! to speak once more who are but Dust and Ashes.
Let us go on, and confess to thee; and open before thee all our Miseries.
Such an occasion often endangers us; such a Temptation often overcomes us.
Our own Infirmities are too strong for us; and our ill Customs prevail against us.
Every Day we resolve to mend; and every Day we break our Resolutions.
Have Mercy on us, O God of infinite Compassion! have Mercy upon us, O thou Comforter of the afflicted Minds!
Have Mercy upon us, and pardon what is past; have Mercy upon us, and prevent what is to come.
When e'er thou seest us unhappily en∣gag'd; and blindly running on in the ways of Death:
O send thy holy Grace to check our desperate speed; and make us stay and look before us.
Shew us the horrid downfal into that bottomless Pit; where impenitent Sinners are swallow'd up for ever.
Strike our regardless Souls with Fear and Trembling; at the dreadful sight of so sad a ruine.
Then turn our Eyes, and kindly set be∣fore them the beauteous Prospect of a Pi∣ous Life.
Make us look long and steddily upon it; and make us look through, and see be∣yond it.
Make us delight in the hope it enjoys; but incomparably more in the Joy it hopes.
A Joy which none but thy self can give; none but thy self can make capable to re∣ceive.
Give us, O gracious Lord, thou free beginner, and perfect finisher of all ver∣tuous Actions!
Give us a right Spirit to guide our In∣tentions; that we may aim directly at our true end.
Give us thy holy Spirit to sanctify our Affections; that what we rightly design we may piously pursue.
Give us an Heroick Spirit to confirm our Hearts; that what we piously endea∣vour, we may couragiously atchieve.
Suffer not the Flesh to deceive us any more; but fortify our Spirits against all its assaults.
If the Flesh grow bold, and insolently demand, how can you live without these Liberties?
Let the Spirit answer, their followers are Slaves; and the Service of God is the only true freedom.
If the Flesh alledge what Joy in suffer∣ing Ills; or doing contrary to our own Inclinations?
Let the Spirit reply, That the Cross of Christ is sweet; and nothing so glorious as the Conquest of our selves.
If the Flesh insist, What do you see, or hear, or exercise any sense in, but in the things of the World?
Let the Spirit enter this protest; and may every experienced Soul subscribe the Truth:
I see its Vanity, and feel its Vexation; and meet in every thing its falseness and danger.
Away then Flesh and Blood, away de∣ceitful World; you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
You were created only to serve us in the way; and set us down at our Jour∣neys end.
Away with all your fond deluding Dreams; be banish'd for ever from our a∣waken'd Souls.
Come thou to us, blest Spirit of Truth; and govern our Lives with thy holy Maxims.
Subdue our sense to the dictates of Rea∣son; and perfect our Reason with the Mysteries of Religion.
Teach us to love and fear what we see not now, as at too great a distance for our short sight.
But what we are sure will hereafter be our Bliss or Misery for ever.
Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c.
Quicken us by thy Grace, O holy Spi∣rit, that we may thorowly mortify the works of the Flesh. Deliver us, O God, from every evil Spirit, and vouchfafe to give us of thine own free Spirit.
LET not our Lord be angry, and we will speak yet once; for we have much to ask, and he has infinite to give.
We have much to ask for our selves and all the World; who depend intirely on his free Goodness.
Many, O Lord, are the Graces we want; and none can give them but by thy Bounty.
Many are the Sins and Miseries we are expos'd unto; and none can deliver us but thy Providence.
Deliver us, O Lord, from what thou knowest is against us; deliver us from what we know will undo us.
Deliver us from the Spirit of Prophane∣ness and Infidelity; from the Spirit of Schism and Heresy.
Deliver us from the Spirit of Pride and Avarice; from the Spirit of Anger, Sloath, and Envy.
Deliver us from the Spirit of Drunken∣ness and Gluttony; from the Spirit of Lust, Wantonness, and Impurity.
Deliver us, O gracious God, from every evil Spirit; and vouchsafe to give us of thine own free Spirit.
Vouchsafe to give us the Spirit of For∣titude; the Spirit of Temperance, Justice, and Prudence:
The Spirit of Wisdom, and Understand∣ing, and Counsel; the Spirit of Know∣ledge, and Piety, and the Fear of thee:
The Spirit of Peace, Patience, Meekness, and Benignity; the Spirit of Humility, Sobriety, and Chastity.
O thou, who never deniest thy Favours, except we deny our Obedience!
Thou who art often near us, when we are far from thee; often ready to grant, when we are unmindful to ask!
Refuse not, O Lord, to hear us, now we call upon thee; and make us still hear thee, when thou callest to us.
Fill our Understanding with the know∣ledge of such Truths as may fix them on thee.
Inure our Wills to embrace such Ob∣jects; as may unite them unto thee the sovereign Goodness.
Shew us the narrow way that leads to Life; the way that few can find, and fewer follow.
Guide us still on in the middle Path of Virtue; that we never incline to any vici∣ous extream.
Let not our Faith grow wild with super∣fluous Branches; nor be stript into a na∣ked fruitless Trunk.
Let not our hope swell up to rash pre∣sumption; nor shrink away into a faint despair.
Let not our Charity be cool'd into a careless indifferency; nor heated into a furious Zeal.
But above all, suffer us not, O thou blessed and holy Spirit! to be guilty of the unpardonable Sin against thy self.
Suffer us not obstinately to persist in any known Wickedness; nor maliciously im∣pugn any known Truth.
Suffer us not to die in our Sins without Repentance: And, O Lord, have Mercy upon us in that serious Hour.
Have Mercy upon us, and govern us in our Life; have Mercy upon us, and save us in our Death.
Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c.
Deliver us, O Lord, from every evil Spirit, and vouchsafe to give us of thine own good Spirit.
NOW the Works of the Flesh are manifest, which are these, Adulte∣ry, Fornication, Uncleanness, Lascivious∣ness,
Idolatry, Witchcraft, Hatred, Variance, Emulations, Wrath, Strife, Seditions, He∣resies,
Envyings, Murders, Drunkenness, Re∣vellings, and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they that do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
But the Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Good∣ness, Faith,
Meekness, Temperance, against such there is no Law.
And they that are Christ's have cruci∣fied the Flesh, with the Affections and Lusts.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Let us not be desirous of Vain-Glory, Provoking one another, Envying one ano∣ther.
Blessed be thy Name, O holy Spirit of God, who dividest thy Gifts to every one as thou pleasest, and workest all in all! In Thee our Sorrows have a Comforter to allay them; in thee our Ignorances have a Guide to direct them; and our Frailties a Confirmer to strengthen them; and all our Wants a God to relieve them. Alleluja, Alleluja.
V. By thy precious Fruits thou art sure∣ly known,
R. Controuling all the wicked Works of the Flesh.
O God, who by thy Holy Spirit didst, at first, establish a Church, and Sanctifying it by the same Spirit, dost still preserve and govern it! Hear, we beseech thee, the Prayers of thy Servants, and mercifully grant us the perpetual assistance of thy Grace, that we may never be de∣ceived by any false Spirit, nor overcome by the vicious Suggestions of Flesh and Blood, but in all our Doubts be directed in the ways of Truth; and in all our Actions guided by thy holy Spirit, who with thee and thy Eternal Son, liveth and reigneth, One God, World without End. Amen.