Page:TheParadiseOfTheChristianSoul.djvu/505

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not reward us according to our iniquities.

O Jesus! deliver me in the evil day from that evil which is the greatest of all evils, for the death of sinners is the worst of deaths, since it is a separation from thee, the highest Good. Oh, who can give me, that in that dreadful day I may not be afraid of the evil hearing, Depart from me, ye cursed? For it is good for me to adhere to thee; oh, that I may not be separated from thee for ever! Amen. Amen.


Second Method

OF RECITING THE LORD’S PRAYER,

With reference to the Seven Effusions of the Blood of Jesus Christ.

God, who otherwise easily and readily gives ear to our prayers, testifies by his Prophet that he abominated the prayers and offerings of some supplicants, For, he says, your hands are full of blood[1] But now, nothing gives greater efficacy to prayer than for one who prays to stretch forth his hands and heart warm with the Blood of Christ. You are come, says the Apostle, to Jesus Christ the Mediator of the New Testament, and to the sprinkling of blood, which speaks better than that of Abel.[2] Better indeed, for the blood of Abel cries for vengeance, but the Blood of Christ for pardon and for mercy! Wouldst thou, then, pray profitably? Take the chalice of salvation, and so call on the name of the Lord.[3]

Our Father, who art in heaven.

O Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! who, for our sakes, hast not spared thy only Son (as neither has spared himself in delivering himself up for us, because it was his will), and hast loved us to the end. Can love, that conquers all things, conquer even God, who is greater and stronger than all things? Oh, the power of love? Many waters could not quench your charity,[4] so that this should not be thy will, nor thy Son pour forth in so many streams all the Blood of his most holy Body. Behold, I come to draw waters with joy out of the Saviour’s fountains. I raise my hands to thee to heaven, dyed and steeped in his rosy Blood. Behold, this is thy beloved Son, in whom thou art well pleased. Look on the face of

  1. Isa. i. 15,
  2. Heb. xii. 24.
  3. Ps. cxv. 13.
  4. Cant. viii. 7