like drops of blood, flowed down from thy whole Body.
Behold, I resign as I ought, for thy sake, my own will, and submit it to thine, that it may be not mine, but thine. Be it that from above my spirit is in anguish within me, even to trembling and sweat; I will wish, nevertheless, that thy Will be done. Oh, let this be granted me by thy Bloody Sweat.
IV. Our daily bread.
O Jesus, sinners have ploughed[1] upon thy back, and with scourges and rods, as also with harrow, spade, and ploughshare, have tilled the ground of thy Body. But, oh, what abundance of fruit and of harvest has been gained for us by so cruel a culture! That, while we feed here, we are fed with the bread of tears, and eat our meat in the sweat of our face; we are nourished too with the Bread of life and understanding; and our soul is filled, as it were, with marrow and fatness as long as in the strength of that Food we walk through this wilderness: and at length eat and drink at thy table,and are satisfied with the plenty of the house of God. Be it so, O Jesus, by the Blood which thou hast shed for us at thy scourging!
V. And forgive us our debts.
Oh, most patient Jesus! whose Blood has been poured out for us so often for the remission of our sins! For more than once thou enduredst to have thy garments violently and cruelly torn off thee by thy cruel tormentors, and thy wounds thus opened very often afresh, and widened the more, not without bitterest pain; doubtless, because man lost his robe of innocence by sinning, and very often defiled it when restored, by repeating his sins.
I beseech thee, by thy sacred Wounds that were renewed by that cruel stripping of thy garments, and by thy Blood that flowed from them so plentifully, forgive us our sins; for, as thy beloved disciple attests, the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.[2] Make us strip ourselves of the old man with his deeds,[3] and put on the new, who, according to God, is created in justice,[4] and holiness of truth. Let thy Blood, O Jesus, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God.[5]
VI. And lead us not into temptation.
O Jesus! who with pierced hands and feet, wast nailed most ruthlessly to the Cross, and, as it were, by so many sources or channels, hast
