And of thy graces shew them some
In this assembly here:
To us thy dove-like meekness lend
That humble we might be,
And on thy silver wings ascend,
Our saviour Christ to see.
O let thy cloven tongues, we pray,
So rest on us again,
That both thy truth confess we may,
And teach it other men!
Moreover let thy heavenly fire,
Inflamed from above,
Burn up in us each vain desire,
And warm our hearts with love.
Vouchsafe thou likewise to bestow
On us thy sacred peace,
We stronger may in union grow,
And in debates decrease;
Which peace though many yet contemn,
Reformed let them be,
That we may, Lord! have part in them,
And they have part in thee.
THOSE, O thrice holy Three in One!
Who seek thy nature to explain
By rules to human reason known,
Shall find their labour all in vain;
And in a shell they may intend
The sea as well to comprehend.
What therefore no man can conceive,
Let us not curious be to know';
But when thou bidd'st us to believe,
Let us obey, let reason go:
Faith's objects true and surer be,
Than those that Reason's eyes do see.
Yea, as by looking on the Sun,
Though to his substance we are blind,
And by the course we see him run
Some notions we of him 'may find,
So what thy brightness doth conceal,
Thy word and works in part reveal.
Most glorious Essence! we confess
In thee, whom by our faith we 'view,
Three Persons, neither more nor less,
Whose workings them distinctly shew;
And sure we are, those Persons three
Make but one God, and thou art he.
The Sun a motion hath, we know,
Which motion doth beget us light;
The heat proceedeth from those two,
And each doth proper act delight:
The motion draws our time a line, The heat doth warm, the light doth shine. Yet, though this motion, light, and heat, Distinctly by themselves we take, Each in the other hath his seat, And but one Sun we see they make;
For whatsoe'er the one will do,
He works it with the other two.
So in the Godhead there is knit
A wondrous threefold true-love knot,
And perfect union fastens it,
Though flesh and blood perceive it not ;
And what each Person doth alone,
By all the Trinity is done.
Their work they jointly do pursue,
Though they their offices divide,
And each one by himself hath due
His proper attribute beside.
But one in substance they are still,
In virtue one, and one in will.
Eternal all thy Persons be,
And yet eternal there's but one;
So likewise infinite all three,
Yet infinite but one alone;
And neither person aught doth miss
That of the Godhead's essence is.
In unity and trinity,
Thou, O Creator! we adore
Thy ever-praised deity,
And thee confess for evermore,
One Father, one begotton Son,
One Holy Ghost, in Godhead one.
SIX days, O Lord! the world to make, And set all creatures in array,
Was all the leisure thou would'st take,
And then didst rest the seventh day;
That day thou therefore hallow'd hast,
And rightly, by a law divine,
Which till the end of time shall last,
The seventh part of time is thine.
Then teach us willingly to give
The tribute of our days to thee,
By whom we now doth move and live,
And have attain'd to what we be.
For of that rest which, by thy word,
Thou hast been pleased to enjoin,
The profit all is ours, O Lord!
And but the praise alone is thine.
O therefore let us not consent
To rob thee of the Sabbath-day,
Nor rest with carnal rest content,
But sanctify it all we may;
Yea, grant that we from sinful strife,
And all those works thou dost detest,
May keep a Sabbath all our life,
And enter thy eternal day.
AS blessed Andrew on a day
By fishing did his living gain,
Christ came and called him away,
That he to fish for men might learn ;
And no delay thereat he made,
Nor questions fram'd at his intent,
But quite forsaking all he had,
Along with him that call'd he went.
O that we could so ready be
To follow Christ when he doth call,
And that we could forsake, as he,
Those nets that we are snar'd withall!
Or would this fisherman of men,
Who set by all he had so light,
By his obedience shewed then,
And his example, mind us might!
But precepts and examples fail Till thou thy grace, Lord! add thereto: O grant it! and we shall prevail In whatsoe'er thou bidd'st us do;
Yea, we shall then that bliss conceive, Which in thy service we may find, And for thy sake be glad to leave Our nets and all we have behind.
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