When thou for sin rebukest man, Bitterness fills our bowels; all our hearts Pine, and decay, And drop away, And carry with them th' other parts. But thou wilt sin and grief destroy; Who dead men raises. Fractures well cured make us more strong. FAITH. LORD, how couldst thou so much appease Thy wrath for sin, as, when man's sight was dim, And could see little, to regard his ease, And bring by Faith all things to him? Hungry I was, and had no meat: I did conceit a most delicious feast; There is a rare outlandish root, Which when I could not get, I thought it here: That apprehension cured so well my foot, That I can walk to heaven well near. I owed thousands and much more: I did believe that I did nothing owe, And lived accordingly; my creditor Believes so too, and lets me go. Faith makes me anything, or all That I believe is in the sacred story : And when sin placeth me in Adam's fall, Faith sets me higher in his glory. If I go lower in the book, What can be lower than the common manger? If bliss had lien in art or strength, None but the wise and strong had gained it : A peasant may believe as much As a great Clerk, and reach the highest stature. When creatures had no real light Inherent in them, thou didst make the sun, Impute a lustre, and allow them bright : And in this show what Christ hath done. That which before was darken'd clean What though my body run to dust? Faith cleaves unto it, counting every grain, With an exact and most particular trust, Reserving all for flesh again. PRAYER. PRAYER, the Church's banquet, Angel's age. Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tower, Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear, The six days' world-transposing in an hour, A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear; Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss, Heaven in ordinary, men well drest, The Milky Way, the bird of Paradise, Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood, HOLY COMMUNION. NoT in rich furniture, or fine array, Thou, who from me wast sold, For so thou should'st without me still have been, Leaving within me sin : But by the way of nourishment and strength, Making thy way my rest, And thy small quantities my length; Which spread their forces into every part, Meeting sin's force and art. Yet can these not get over to my soul, Our souls and fleshly hearts; Only thy grace, which with these elements comes, And hath the privy key, Opening the soul's most subtile rooms : While those to spirits refined, at door attend Despatches from their friend. GIVE me my captive soul, or take Another lift like this will make Before that sin turn'd flesh to stone, A fervent sigh might well have blown For sure, when Adam did not know He might to heaven from Paradise go, Thou hast restored us to this ease Which I can go to, when I please, And leave th' earth to their food. ANTIPHON. CHO. LET all the world in every corner sing, My God and King. VER. The heavens are not too high, His praise may thither fly: The earth is not too low, His praises there may grow. CHO. Let all the world in every corner sing, My God and King. VER. The Church with Psalms must shout, But above all, the heart Must bear the longest part. CHO. Let all the world in every corner sing, My God and King. |