The stars which thou doft hold in thy right hand,
The Angels of the Churches, Lord, direct
Clearly thy holy will to understand,
And do accordingly: Let no defect,
Nor fault, no, not in our new politics,
Provoke thee to remove our candlesticks ;
But let thy urim and thy thummim be
Garments of praise t' adorn thy holy ones:
Light and perfection let all men fee
Brightly fhine forth in those rich precious ftones,
Of whom thou wilt make a foundation
To raise thy new Hierufalem upon.
And at the brightness of its rifing let
All nations with thy people fhout for joy:
Salvation for walls and bulwarks fet
About it, that nothing may it annoy.
Then the whole world thy diocefs fhall be,
And bishops all but fuffragans to thee.
ARROW of time, eternity in brief,
Compendiums epitomized, the chief
Contents, the indices, the title-pages,
Of all paft, prefent, and fucceeding ages,
Sublimate graces, antidated glories,
The cream of holiness,
The inventories
Of future bleffednefs,
The florilegia of celeftial ftories,
Spirits of joys, the relishes and clofes
Of angels' mufic, pearls diffolved, rofes
Perfum'd, fugar'd honey-combs, delights
Never too highly priz'd,
The marriage-rites,
Which duly folemniz'd
Ufher espoused fouls to bridal nights,
Gilded fun-beams, refined elixirs,
And quinteffential extracts of ftars:
Who loves not you, doth but in vain profefs
That he loves God, or heaven, or happiness.
The Sabbath, or Lord's-Day.
The Annunciation, or Lady-Day.
UNTO the mufic of the fpheres
Let men, and angels, join in confort theirs.
So great a meffenger
From heaven to earth
Is feldom feen,
Attir'd in fo much glory.
A meffage welcomer,
Fraught with more mirth,
Hath never been
Subject of any story:
This by a double right, if any may
Be truly ftil'd the world's birth-day.'
The making of the world ne'er coft
So dear, by much, as to redeem it loft.
God faid but, Let it be,
And ev'ry thing
Was made ftraightway,
So as he faw it good;
But ere that he could fee
A course to bring
Man gone aftray
To the place where he stood;
His wisdom with his mercy, for man's fake,
Against his juftice part did take.
And the refult was this day's news,
Able the messenger himself t' amuse,
As well as her to whom
By him 'twas told,
That though fhe were
A virgin pure, and knew
No man, yet in her womb
A Son fhe fhould
Conceive and bear,
As fure as God was true.
Such high place in his favour the poffeffed,
Being among all women bleffed.
But bless'd especially in this,
That she believ'd, and for eternal bliss
Rely'd on him whom she
Herself should bear,
And her own Son
Took for her Saviour.
And if there any be,
That when they hear,
As fhe had done
Sure their behaviour,
They may be bleffed, as she was, and say, 'Tis their annunciation-day.
The Nativity, or Christmas-Day. UNFOLD thy face, unmask thy ray,
Shine forth bright fun, double the day,
Let no malignant misty fume,
Nor foggy vapour, once prefume
To interpofe thy perfect fight
This day, which makes us love thy light
For ever better, that we could,
That bleffed Object once behold,
Which is both the circumference,
And centre of all excellence :
Or rather neither, but a treasure
Unconfined, without measure,
Whose centre and circumference,
Including all pre-eminence,
Excluding nothing but defect,
And infinite in each aspect,
Is equally both here and there,
And now, and then, and ev'ry where
And always, one, himself, the fame
A Being far above a name.
Draw nearer then, and freely pour
Forth all thy light into that hour,
Which was crowned with his birth,
And made heaven envy earth.
Let not this birth-day clouded be,
By whom thou shineft, and we see.
The Circumcision, or New-Year's Day.
ORROW betide my fins! Muft smart fo foon
Seize on my Saviour's tender flefh fearce grown
Unto an eight days age P
Can nothing else affwage
The wrath of heaven, but his infant-blood?
Innocent infant, infinitely good!
Is this thy welcome to the world, great God;
No fooner born, but fubject to the rod
Of fin-incenfed wrath ?
Alas! what pleasure hath
Thy Father's juftice to begin thy passion,
Almoft together with thine incarnation?
Is it to antedate thy death? T' indite
Thy condemnation himself, and write
The copy with thy blood,
Since nothing is fo good?
Or, is't by this experiment to try,
Whether thou beest born mortal, and canft die ?
If man muft needs draw blood of God, yet why
Stays he not till thy time be come to die?
Didft thou thus early bleed
For us to fhew what need
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