Page:TheParadiseOfTheChristianSoul.djvu/173

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infinite grace; that he has prevented you with the blessings of his goodness, and that he has preserved you on the way from every hindrance to your salvation, and so at length made you happy in glory. I give eternal thanks to God for all the gifts and favours which he has, and will bestow upon you, in time and in eternity.

Oh, happy friends of God, obtain for your client full pardon of my sins, and perfect self-denial, that I may follow in your footsteps along the narrow way. By you, also, I humbly implore the peace of God, or calmness of soul, which surpasses all understanding: the inward and sincere love of God, which inflamed you bravely and gloriously to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil, and all the adversities of this life.

Pray for me, I beseech you, now, and at the hour of death, when I depart hence to stand before the terrible tribunal of the supreme judge; that he may not enter into judgment with me, but may judge me according to his infinite mercy; that so I maybe finally admitted into your most happy company, in the Jerusalem which is above, where we may together praise our God and Lord, and exalt him above all for ever. Amen.



CHAPTER IV.

A METHOD OF RECITING THE LORD’S PRAYER,

With Commemoration and Veneration of the Saints.

Our Father, who art in heaven.

O eternal Father, in whose house are many mansions, where thy only-begotten Son has prepared a place for thy elect children, the possession of which very many have happily gained under his conduct, and now behold thee, their most tender Father, with face revealed: Behold, we banished children of Eve, from our exile inwardly pant with sighs and prayers for our home; yes, and for thee, our Father. This we do the more eagerly and boldly, because we know that our brethren, whose natural and carnal condition was once like our own, are gone thither before us ; and therefore, by thy grace, we hope to arrive thither also by their patronage and example. Will