Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Strangers to these Sufferings? It is like the cafe our Saviour himself puts; Thou haft Prophefy'd in our Streets, we have Eaten and Drunk in thy Prefence. To whom he will Reply, What then? Ye are Strangers to me, I know you not. So that it is not enough,

that the Son of God hath Suffer'd for us; C we must have a common Share in it, and be mutual Sufferers with him, and then indeed we have leave to Expoftulate with God by his Sufferings, and fhall prevail: "We have a kind of Right to mention them; and God will graciously be wrought upon by it. But how fhall we be Mutual Sufferers with him? By laying to Heart what he hath Suffer'd for us; by being Wounded ' with his Wounds, and Bruifed with his Strokes; by having the Reproaches of them, that Reproach'd him, fall on us; by having our Souls forrowful with his Soul, even unto Death; by Trembling at the Wrath of 'God, due to our Sins, which caus'd him 'fuch Amazement, in making Atonement for them. Let us go to Mount Calvary, and endeavour to put our felves in his Place. We are They, Lord, who have finn'd, let us fuffer the Pains: Thou haft done nothing amifs, why then fhou'd thy Holy Body fuffer thefe Tortures? Thy Righte ous Soul feel this Anguish? But fince we cannot bring thee down, nor exchange 'Conditions with thee, O that we cou'd ' give thee one Moments Eafe! O that we had not fo fin'd, as to procure these thy

• Tor

• Tortures! O Wretches that we are! to ' have brought this load upon Thee! See, O my Soul, what thou haft done! They have brought thy greatest Friend, the Be'loved of God, His only Son, the Everlast. ing Prince, to this fad Condition? Canft thou fee it, without trembling? Canft thou fee it and live? It wou'd be grief extra'ordinary, only to fee him in this Condition; what Heart cou'd not be moved at it, that knows who it is that Suffers? But < to be thy Self the guilty Caufe of it, ought

[ocr errors]

eft thou not to wish, that the like Pains 'might fall on Thee, and that thou might'ft "Suffer with him a little, to cover thy Confufion! For this Confufion to an Ingenuous Soul, that truly ftood by our Lord in 'this Condition, wou'd certainly be a Tor< ment fo great, that one wou'd almost wish to hang on a Crofs, to divert it by a new Pain. O my Redeemer, if knowing what 'I now know, I had ftood by thy Cross, I hope the Confufion of my Soul, wou'd be nothing lefs, than what I have here defcrib'd. Since C then, I believe Thee to have Suffer'd all this, as much as if I had ftood by Thee, and that Thou art pleas'd to reprefent thy Sufferings often again to us, and to be fet forth as evidently Crucified among us: Oftrengthen my Imagination, and my · Faith, from Mystical Representations of 'Bread and Wine, broken and poured out; to pass to thy real Sufferings, and take up fome of thofe Affections, fome degree of

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

that

[ocr errors]

• that Confusion (if, alas! I cannot take up the whole of it) which I fhou'd be feiz'd with, at Thy actual Crucifixtion: Then may I have Leave, O my Saviour, having Suffer'd with Thee, to plead with thy Father, by thy Sufferings. By the Agony of thy Soul, when thou didst make Atonement for Sins; pardon my Sins, and have ، Mercy on me. Wherefore didft Thou endure that Agony, but to obtain Remission of Sins; that Thou might'ft diftribute, and give it to those that humbly Cry unto Thee for it; that Thou might'ft give Gifts unto Men, of the Trophies purchas'd with thy Blood? My Soul is wounded by thy Agony; O let me partake of the Fruits of

[ocr errors]

' it.

[ocr errors]

David's Law was, That Those that stay'd by the Stuff, Shou'd fhare with thofe that took the Spoil: Lord, who is able to bear Thee Company in Thy Grievous Conflict? Weak C and Faint we must be left behind: But our Soul goes along with Thee, is bound up with Thine, and is wholly fill'd with Concern for Thee. O let us partake of the Fruit of thy Labours, of the Iffues of thy Sufferings. Thou haft obtain❜d Pardon and Peace; O bestow some share of it upon thy Servants.

[ocr errors]

Let me go on, O my Lord, to Suffer with Thee,while I live in this Sinning World. O vouchsafe to let me have a share in thy Sufferings, and speak Peace to my Soul; that I may pafs my Days in an humble

[ocr errors]

Confidence here, and Rejoice with Thee one Day hereafter, in forgetting both Thine, and my Mifery and Trouble. A

men.

At another time he offer'd up the follow ing Prayer, with Refpect to every part of our Saviour's bitter Paffion; the Commemorating of which, is the principal End of the Holy Communion.

[ocr errors]

O my Saviour, O my God! By thy lying proftrate on the Earth, in a Cold Night; and thy Soul's being exceeding forrowful, even unto Death: By thy grievous Agony; in which Thou didst Sweat Drops of Blood, between thy wonderful Love to thy Church, and the Infirmity of thy Humane Nature, which drew back at the Apprehenfion of thofe Sufferings which Thou wert to pass through for Us: By thy thrice lifting up ftrong Cries to thy Father, to remove from Thee that bitter Cup, if it had been his Will, and been poffible for his Juftice, otherwise to be fatisfi'd: By thy firm Refolution which thou didst take up, to go through that great Work for our fakes; And by thy meek Refigning thy felf to thy Father's Will, and ready concurring with 'His wonderful Love to us, in defigning to perfect our Redemption, by thy Sorrows: By thy being Betray'd by thy own Difciple, and fuffering that finful Wretch to Kifs thy bleffed Lips: By thy being apprehended, rudely Bound, Hurried away as a Malefactor: By thy being Forfaken

of

[ocr errors]

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

of all thy Disciples, and none of them daring to own, or ftand by Thee: By thy being Infulted over, and treated as the meaneft Slave, without Refpect or Pity, and carry'd to and fro from Magiftrate to Magiftrate; from Tribunal to Tribunal, and every where falfly Accused: By thy being Buffeted and Spit upon, Mock'd and Reviled: By thy being Crown'd with • Thorns, rudely Prefs'd down on thy Sa'cred Head, and entring into thy Temples: By thy being Array'd in a Mock Habit, and a Reed put into thy Hand, instead of a Scepter: By thy being Sentenc'd to 'Death as a Criminal, and Condemn'd 'to the Vileft, moft Painful, and Reproachful kind of Death: By thy being Scourg'd by merciless Hands; the Plowers plowing upon thy Back, and making long Furrows By thy being loaded with a Heavy Cross: By thy being Strip'd of thy Cloaths, and faften'd to it with Nails, ftruck through ⚫ the most tender and Nervous parts, thy Hands and thy Feet; fo that the Iron entred into thy very Soul: By thy being Crucified in the midft, between two Malefactors, as if Thou hadst been the greatest of them: By thy being Rear'd up on the Cross, and the weight of thy Body hanging on Four Wounds: By thy being Expos'd Naked to the View of the World, bearing the Shame, as well as the Torment of my Sins: By thy precious Blood, iffùing out of thy Wounds, and forming a Laver for my Sins,

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

and

« PreviousContinue »