We have to haften unto thee as faft;'

And learn that all the time is loft that's paft?
'Tis true, we should do fo; yet in this blood
There's something elfe, that must be understood:
It feals thy covenant,

That so we may not want

Witness enough against thee, that thou are
Made fubject to the law, to act our part.
The Sacrament of thy regeneration
It cannot be; it gives no imitation
Of what thou wert, but we :
Native impurity,

Original corruption, was not thine,
But only as thy righteoufness is mine.
In holy baptifm this is brought to me,
As that in circumcifion was to thee:
So that thy lofs and pain

Do prove my joy and gain.

Thy circumcifion writ thy death in blood:
Baptifm in water feals my livelihood.

O blessed change! Yet, rightly understood,
That blood was water, and this water's blood.
What shall give again,

To recompence thy pain?

Lord, take revenge upon me for this fmart:
To quit thy forefkin, circumcife my heart..

The Epiphany, or Twelfth-Day.

REAT, without controverly great,

The mystery of godliness, Whereof the gospel doth intreat.

God in the flesh is manifeft,

And that which hath for ever been
Invisible, may now be seen,
Th' eternal Deity new dreft.

Angels to fhepherds brought the news:
And wife men guided by a star,
To feek the Sun are come from far:
Gentiles have got the start of Jews.
The ftable and the manger hide

His glory from his own: but these,
Tho' ftrangers, his refplendent rays
Of Majefty divine have spy'd.

Gold, frankincenfe, and myrrh, they give;
And worshipping him plainly show,
That unto him they all things owe,
By whose free gift it is they live.
Tho' clouded in a vail of flesh,

The Sun of Righteousness appears,
Melting cold cares and frofty fears,
And making joys fpring up a-fresh.
O that his light and influence,

Would work effectually in me, Another new Epiphany,

Exhale and elevate me hence:

That, as my calling doth require,
Star-like I may to others fhine:
And guide them to that Sun divine:
Whofe day-light never fhall expire.

The Passion, or Good-Friday. HIS day my Saviour dy'd: and do I live? What hath not forrow flain me yet? Did the immortal God vouchsafe to give

THIS

His life for mine, and do I fet
More by my wretched life, than, he by his,
So full of glory, and of blifs ?

Did his free mercy, and mere love to me,
Make him forfake his glorious throne,
And mount a cross, the ftage of infamy,
That fo he might not die alone,

But dying fuffer more thro' grief and shame, 5446) Than mortal men have pow'r to name ?

And can ingratitude fo far prevail,

To keep my living still? Alas!

Methinks fome thorn out of his crown, fome nail,

At least his fpear, might pierce, and pafs

Through and through, till it reviv'd mine heart;
As the right death-deserving part.

And doth he not expect it should be fo?
Would he lay down a price fo great,
And not look that his purchases should grow
Accordingly? Shall I defeat

His juft defire? O no, it cannot be:

His death muft needs be death to me.

My life's not mine, but his: for he did die
That I might live; yet died fo,
That being dead he was alive; and I
Through the gates of death must go
To live with him; yea, to live by him here
Is a part in his death to bear.

Die then, dull foul, and if thou canst not die,
Diffolve thyfelf into a fea

Of living tears, whose streams may ne'er go dry.
Nor turned be another way,

Till they have drown'd all joys, but thofe alone,
Which forrow claimeth for its own.

For Sorrow hath its joys; and I am glad
That I would grieve, if I do not:
But if I neither could, nor would, be fad,
And forrowful, this day, my lot

Would be to grieve for ever, with a grief
Uncapable of all relief.

No grief was like that, which he griev'd for me,
A greater grief than can be told

And like my grief for him no grief should be,
If I could grieve fo, as I would:

But what I would, and cannot, he doth fee,
And will accept, that dy'd for me.
Lord, as thy grief and death for me are mine,
For thou haft given them unto me:
So my defires to grieve and die are thine,
For they are wrought only by thee,
Not for my fake then, but thine own, be pleas'd
With that, which thou thyfelf haft rais'd.

The Resurrection, or Easter-Day. UP, and Saviour's gone before.

away,

Why doft thou stay,

Dull foul? Behold the door

Is open, and his precept bids thee rife,
Whose pow'r hath vanquish'd all thine enemies.
Say not, I live,

Whilft in the grave thou ly'st:

He that doth give

Thee life, would have thee prize't

More highly than to keep it bury'd, where
Thou canft not make the fruits of it appear.

Is rottennefs,

And duft fo pleasant to thee,
That happiness,

And heaven, cannot wo thee,

To shake thy fhackles off, and leave behind thee Those fetters, which to death and hell do bind thee? In vain thou fay'ft,'

Th'art bury'd with thy Saviour,

If thou delay'ft,

To fhew, by thy behaviour,"

That thou art risen with him; till thou shine
Like him, how canft thou say his light is thine?
Early he rose,

And with him brought the day,

Which all thy foes

-Frighted out of the way:

And wilt thou, fluggard-like, turn in thy bed,
Till noon fun beams draw up thy drowfy head ?

Open thine eyes,

Sin-feized foul, and fee

What cobweb-ties

They are, that tramel thee;

Not profits, pleafures, honours, as thou thinkeft; But lofs, pain, fhame, at which thou vainly winkeft,

All that is good

Thy Saviour dearly bought

With his heart's blood;

And it must there be fought,

Where he keeps refidence, who rofe this day:

Linger no longer then; up, and away.

The Ascension, or Holy Thursday.

M

OUNT, mount, my Son, and climb, or ratherfly
With all thy force on high,

Thy Saviour rofe not only, but afcended :

And he must be attended