ever looking unto the Lord: for He shall pluck my feet out of the nett:" my affections from being ensnared with unlawful objects.

When you are tempted to any Sin.

MEDITATION I.

Avoid, Satan; thou wicked and unclean spirit, avoid thou hast no part or lot in me.

I am solemnly devoted to the service of my God, and my Jesus, and thy sworn adversary; I have solemnly abjured thee and all thy works, and must not now yield to any of thine unclean suggestions.

:

"Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me; for my soul trusteth in Thee and under the shadow of Thy wings shall be my refuge until this tyranny be overpast.

"I will call unto the most high God: even to the God that shall perform the cause I have in hand.

"He shall send from Heaven and save me from the reproof of him that would eat me up.

"God shall send forth His mercy and truth: my soul is among lions ":" the devil

* Psalm xxv. 15.

MEDITATION II.

When I am tempted to any evil, I complain of the devil: but myself is the greatest devil to my soul, whilst I do not deny myself the fulfilling of its irrational appetites.

All the forces wherewith the enemy fights against my soul are within me: it is from those warring members within, they are both raised, armed and maintained.

"But whensoever I call upon God, then shall mine enemies be put to flight: this I know, for God is on my side.

"In God's word will I rejoice in the Lord's word will I comfort me.

"Yea, in God have I put my trust I will not fear what man (or devil) can do

unto me."

:

O God, make speed to save me O Lord, make haste to help me.

Hold not Thy tongue, O God: keep not still silence; refrain not Thyself, O God. For lo, Thine enemies Psalm lvi. 9-11.

make a murmuring: and they that hate Thee have lift up their head.

O Lord, let it be Thy pleasure to deliver me make haste to help me, O Lord.

MEDITATION III.

Being tempted, say, It is the Lord's cause I must now maintain, it is His quarrel I must fight for the grand enemy of God and man would now rob God of His honour, and of that obedience which is due to His most holy laws and I, being tempted, am thereby challenged to be the Lord's champion.

"But I will not trust in my bow it is not my sword that shall save me.

:

"But it is Thou, Lord, that savest us from our enemies and puttest them to confusion that hate usy."

:

"Arise, O God, maintain Thine own cause remember how the foolish man blasphemeth Thee daily.

66 Forget not the voice of Thine enemies the presumption of them that hate Thee increaseth ever more and more"."

MEDITATION IV.

Upon Temptations.
The victory over the de-
Psalm xliv. 7, 8.

vil, and all his temptations, were easily obtained, could I but once get the mastery over those lusts which war against the soul.

In which spiritual warfare, the banner under which I must fight, is the Cross of my Redeemer: by the virtue whereof, all my intestine foes may be vanquished in the crucifixion of them; and the old man, with all his mutinous troops of deceivable lusts, be subdued, and led captive in the chains of holy mortification.

O blessed Jesus, the Captain of my salvation, strengthen and encourage me manfully to fight under Thy banner against all my ghostly adversaries: and let Thy Grace so prevent and follow me, that I may follow Thee by the Cross to the Crown, through the school of Grace to the throne of Glory. Amen.

Upon the prevailing of
any Temptation.

"I will say unto the God of my strength, Why hast Thou forgotten me? and why go I thus heavily while the enemy oppresseth me?

"My bones are smitten asunder as with a sword; while mine enemies that

Psalm lxxiv. 23, 24.

trouble me cast me in the teeth:

"Namely, while they say daily unto me, Where is now thy God?"

"Have mercy upon me, O God, have mercy upon me: raise Thou me up again, and I shall reward them":" being more careful to resist the devil, and all his suggestions.

"Forsake me not, O Lord my God be not Thou far from me.

"Haste Thee to help me, Lord God of my salvation"."

Having escaped a Temp

tation.

"The snares of death compassed me round about : and the overflowing of ungodliness made me afraid.

"The pains of hell came about me: the snares of death overtook med."

"If the Lord Himself had not been on my side, I may well now say if the Lord Himself had not been on my side,

"The waters of temptation had drowned me, and the stream had gone over my soul :

66 Yea, the deep waters of the proud had gone even over my soul.

a Psalm xlii. 11-13. d Psalm xviii. 3, 4.

"But praised be the Lord, Who hath not given me over for a prey unto their teeth.

"My soul is escaped even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler the snare is broken, and I am delivered.

"Our help standeth in the name of the Lord, Who hath made heaven and earth to Whom be all glory."

Glory be to the Father, &c,

As it was in the begin-
ning, &c.

When you Hunger or
Thirst.

I.

"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be satisfied." They shall receive such a satisfaction, as the most delicious of bodily meats and drinks cannot give.

"He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whoso shall drink of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst.

"But the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of living water springing up to everlasting lifes."

Lord, evermore give me this water, that I thirst

not.

It is the graces of Thy Holy Spirit I humbly beg: which alone can satisfy the vast desires of my soul.

II.

"Labour not for the meat that perisheth: but labour for that meat which endureth to everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you for Him hath God the Father sealed;" sent into the world to be the incorruptible food of our immortal souls.

"This is the bread that came down from Heaven, that a man might eat thereof and not die." Lord, evermore give me this bread: it is Thy blessed self, Holy Jesus, I humbly beg to be the food of my soul; in grace here, in glory hereafter.

III.

That my Saviour may be the food of my soul, I must offer up myself to be the food of my Saviour.

It was for this food He hungered, when He was tempted.

It was for this He thirsted, hanging upon the Cross*.

h John vi. 27. 50.

But my heart is too hard and stony for my Lord to feed upon but may He, Who is able of stones to raise up children to Abraham, command my stony heart to be made bread for my Redeemer.

And that it may be so, it must be well steeped in the tears of true penitence, kneaded through faith in His blood, baked by the sacred fire of Divine love, and given Him to eat by a sincere and thorough devotion to His service.

IV.

The souls of just men made perfect hunger not, thirst not, but are as the Angels in Heaven, who neither eat nor drink, as we mortals do upon earth: and yet they feast continually, being satisfied with the blissful presence of God.

It is thy imperfection and infelicity (0 my soul) to desire corporeal meats and drinks, to sustain thy frail tabernacle of flesh.

But blessed be the Lord my God, Who hath not made me like the beasts that perish, capable only of a sensual happiness in sowing to the flesh, from whence only corruption is reaped; but of

a felicity perfect, solid, and everlasting in the beatifical vision and fruition of His divine goodness, in Whose presence there is fulness of joy, and at Whose right hand there is pleasure for

evermore.

St. Chrysostom's Grace
before Meat.

Blessed be Thou, my God, Who feedest me from my youth up; Who givest meat to all flesh: O fill our hearts with food and gladness, that having alway what is sufficient, we may abound unto every good work, in Christ Jesus, to Whom with Thee be all glory, honour and dominion, with Thy Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.

Amen.

awaken up my soul after Thine own likeness: for that only can give me a true and lasting satisfaction. "When I awake up after Thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it!."

II.

"Praise the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me praise His Holy Name:

"Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things: making thee young and lusty as the eagle ""

"O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness: and declare the wonders that He doth for the children of

men.

"For He satisfieth the empty soul and filleth the hungry soul with good

ness n

But I am less than the least of all Thy mercies shewed unto Thy servant, unworthy to have my "heart filled with food and gladness;" having too frequently abused Thy good creatures of meats and drinks to riot and excess therein.

"O satisfy me with Thy mercy, and that soon; SO shall I rejoice and be glad all the days of my life"."

n Psalm cvii. 8, 9.