Though horned like the lamb he shew,
Or sheep-like clad he be,
Let us his dragon-language know,
And wolfish nature see;
Yea, cause the lot to fall on those
The charge of thine to take,
That shall their actions well dispose,
And conscience of them make.
Let us moreover mind his fall,
Whose room Matthias got,
So to believe and fear withall,
That we forsake thee not;
For titles, be they ne'er so high
Or great, or sacred place,
Can no man's person sanctify,
Without thy special grace.
FOR those blest pen-men of thy word
Who have thy holy gospel writ,
We praise and honour thee, O Lord!
And our belief we build on it:
Those happy tidings which it brings,
With joyful hearts we do embrace,
And prize above all other things
That precious token of thy grace.
To purchase what we hope thereby, Our utmost wealth we will bestow;
Yea, we our pleasures will deny,
And let our lives and honours go;
And whomsoe'er it cometh from,
No other gospel we will hear;
No, though an angel down should come
From heav'n, we would not give him ear.
Our resolutions, Lord! are such,
But in performance weak are we;
And the deceiver's craft is such,
Our second therefore thou must be :
So we assuredly shall know,
When any doctrines we receive,
If they agreeing be or no
To those, which we professed have.
TO thy apostles thou hast taught
What they, O Christ! should do;
And those things, which believe they ought,
Of thee they learned too;
And that, which thou to them hath shewn,
Hath been disposed thus,
They unto others made it known,
And those have told it us.
With them we do confess and say,
What shall not be denied,
Thou art the truth, the life, the way,
And we in thee will 'bide:
By thee the Father we have known,
Whom thou descendedst from;
And unto him, by thee alone,
We have our hope to come.
For thou to Philip didst impart,
Which our belief shall be,
That thou within the Father art,
And that he is in thee;
And saidst, whatever in thy name
We should with faith require,
Thou wouldst give ear unto the same,
And grant us our desire.
Of thee, O Lord! we therefore crave,
Which thou wilt deign, we know,
The good belief which now we have,
We never may forego;
And that thy sacred truth, which we
Thy word have learned from,
From age to age derived may be,
Until thy kingdom come.
THY gifts and graces manifold, To many men thou, Lord! hast lent Both now and in the days of old, To teach them faith and to repent: Thy prophets thou didst first ordain, And they as legates did appear;
Then cam'st thyself, and in thy train,
Apostles for attendants were.
For legeir, when thou went'st away,
The Holy Ghost thou didst appoint;
And here successions, till this day,
Remain of those he did anoint;
Yea, thou hast likewise so ordain'd, That to make good what those have taught, An army-royal was maintain'd
Of martyrs, who thy battles fought.
For those and him, for whom we thus Are met to praise thy name to-day, We give thee thanks, as they for us, That should come after them, did pray; And by this duty we declare, Our faith assures that they and we, In times divided though we are, Have one communion still with thee.
BECAUSE the world might not pretend,
It knew not of thy coming-day,
Thou didst, O Christ! before thee send
A cryer to prepare the way:
Thy kingdom was the bliss he brought, Repentance was the way he taught. And that his voice might not alone Inform us, what we should believe,
His life declar'd what must be done,
If thee we purpose to receive.
His life our pattern therefore make,
That we the course he took may take.
Let us not gad to pleasure's court,
With fruitless toys to feed the mind;
Nor to that wilderness resort,
Where reeds are shaken with the wind;
But tread the path he trod before,
That both a prophet was, and more.
Clad in repentant-cloth of hair,
Let us, O Christ! to seek out thee,
To those forsaken walks repair,
Which of so few frequented be,
And true repentance so intend,
That we our courses may amend.
Let us hereafter feed upon
The honey of thy word divine;
Let us the world's enticement shun,
Her drugs and her bewitching wine;
And on our loins, so loose that are,
The leather-belt of temp'rance wear.
Thus from thy cryer let us learn,
For thee, sweet Jesus! to prepare,
And others of their sins to warn,
However for the same we fare;
So thou to us, and we to thee,
Shall, when thou comest, welcome be.
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