A Prayer

•will, and my duty, to receive this great sacra- ment of confirmation ; that I may, like thy apostles, be baptized with the Holy Ghost and endowed with power from on high , and like them be changed, by Divine grace, into an- other man, in such a manner as henceforward to live up to the dignity, and to fulfil every part of the duty, of a soldier of Christ, and to preserve and maintain, even to death, that purity and sanctity which becomes the tem- ple of the living God. But, O my God, how far am I from being worthy to approach this heavenly sacrament l How can I expect that thy Holy Spirit should come into my inward house to make it his temple, which has been so long possessed by unclean spirits ? Where are the dispositions in me, which the apostles brought, and which all Christians ought to bring along with them, to the receiving of theHoly Ghost ? Oh, I acknowledge myself infinitely unworthy. I confess and detest, from the bottom of my heart, all my past un- cleanness and abominations. 1 humbly crave thy mercy and pardon, through Jesus Christ thy Son, and beg through him that thou wilt be pleased to cleanse my soul from all its filth with his precious blood, and to give me thy grace to come to this sacrament with that humility, faith, and devotion, which is most agreeable to thee.

O Divine Spirit, do thou prepare my soul for thyself. Behold, I come, desiring to give myself up to thee fbr all time and eternity, that thou mayest ever live and reign in my soul ; and oh, let my whole soul henceforward be perpetually subject to thee. AFTER CONFIRMATION. 159 and let nothing in me ever more rebel against thee. Amen