Thou lovest to hear us treat of Heaven; as if we made it our Business indeed to go thither.

All other things we must ask with Submiffion to thee; fince we know not abfolutely what's good for our felves.

But thy Eternal Joys we may beg without Restraint; and urge and prefs for thy Assiftance to gain them.

Heaven we may wish, without the Check of Resignation; Heaven we may pray for, without fear of Importunity.

O wife and gracious Lord! whate'er thou doest, thy Love intends it all for the Good of thy Servants.

If thou deferreft fometimes to grant our Requests, 'tis only in Charity to make us repeat them;

That we may feel more fenfibly our own Poverty; and be more ftrongly convinc'd of our Dependance on thee:

That we may practice our Hope while we long expect; and increase our Gratitude when we receive at laft.

That we may learn this fure, and happy Skill of working in our Souls the Vertues we defire;

By often renewing thofe very Defires, till themselves become even the Graces we feek.

But, O improvident we! how unwilling to pray are most of us always, and all of us fometimes?

How

How do our little Offices feem long, and tedious; and half an Hour quite tire our Patience?

How are we flow to begin, and fwift to make an end?

How heavy while they are faying, and glad when they are faid?

Yet, fure, no easier Work than to ask what we want; no cheaper Purchase than to have for asking.

Sure no fweeter Pleasure than to converse with God; nor greater Profit than to gain his Favour.

Still we have new Tranfgreffions to confefs; and fhall never, alas! want infirmities to lament.

Often, O dreadful Lord, when we speak to thee, we do not fo much as hear our felves:

Often we pursue impertinent Objects; and our careless Thoughts contradi& our Words.

But, O thou blessed End of all our Labours, and only Centre of all our Wishes! Do thou reclaim our wandring Fancies; and guide and fix them to attend thy Service.

Night and Day let us call on thee, and never cease knocking at the Doors of thy Palace.

Let no Delay difcourage our Hope; nor even Refusal destroy our Confidence.

But let this firm Foundation still sustain

us; and on this let our Peace be establish'd for ever.

What's truly neceffary thy Goodness will not deny; the reft our Obedience submits to thy Pleasure.

Glory be to the Father, &c.

As it was in the Beginning, &c.

Antiphon.

Happy we who have our God fo near us; Happy if our pious Lives keep us near him.

Ant. You have not, because you ask not; you ask and receive not, because you ask amifs.

D

PSALM XVII.

Eliver us, O Lord, from asking of thee, what we cannot receive without Danger to our felves.

Deliver us from receiving what we cannot use, without offending others, and ruining our own Souls.

Deliver us from prefuming fo on thy Bounty; that we omit to perform our own Duty.

Still to our Devotions let's joyn our best Endeavours; and make our Earth comply with thy Heaven.

If we defire of thee to relieve our Neceffities; let us faithfully begin to labour with our Hands.

And

#1

And not expect a Blessing from the Clouds on the idle Follies of an undifciplin❜d Life: If we beg Grace for Victory over our Paffions, let us conftantly ftrive to resist their Affaults.

Let us wifely foresee our particular Dangers; and ufe the proper Weapon against every Sin.

4

To obtain the Gift of Charity, we must mortifie our Senfes; and immediately fly the least Shadow of Temptation.

In vain we approach thy holy Altars; if Our Lives prepare not the Way for our Of ferings.

Thou fhutteft thy Ears to our loudest Prayers; if we open not ours to the Voice of the Poor.

Thou denyeft to pardon our Trefpaffes against thee; unless we have already forgiven our Enemies.

O the extream Benignity of our glorious God; who treats with his Creatures upon equal Terms !

Who deals no other wife with us, miferable Wretches, than we our felves commerce with one another.

He promifes to give the fame Measure we give our Neighbours; and performs incomparably more than he promises;

Prefs'd down, and fhaken together, and running over into the Bofoms of them that love him.

Such,

الله

Such, O my God, is the Bounty of thy Goodness; and no lefs the Patience of thy generous Hand.:

Thou holdeft thy Bleffings hovering over our Heads; ftill watching the Time when we are fit to receive them.

Then thou immediately fendeft them down upon us to enter our Hearts, and dwell with us for ever.

Even that very Temper which thus difpofes us, intirely depends on the Favour of thy Providencei varolo

C

Every Condition thou requireft on our -part, being nothing else but thine own free Gifted 7lbodoiw

Thy Mercy alone is the Fountain of all our Bleffings and in what Channel foever they flow to us, they fpring fromthee.. Thou art the God of Nature, and Reafon; thou art the God of Grace, and Religion. Give, gracious God, what thou art pleafed to command and then command what thon pleafeft or vid ad Glory be to the Father, & As it was in the Beginning,

Antiphon. # 900 26 302 I You have not, because you ask not; you ask and receive not

because, you ask amifsi 90 991 stem w tie, nod Our Father, &

E