For 'tis Thy nest;

Then he's of heaven possest,

That heaven hath within his breast.

Then hear my cry and help afford;
Show me more love, my dearest Lord.

ANON.

Did Age and Death.

THE seas are quiet when the winds are o'er;
So calm are we when passions are no more:
For then we know how vain it was to boast
Of fleeting things, so certain to be lost.

Clouds of affection from our younger eyes
Conceal that emptiness which age descries:
The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed,
Lets in new lights through chinks that time has
made.

Stronger by weakness, wiser, men become,
As they draw nearer to their eternal home;
Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view,
That stand upon the threshold of the new.

WALLER.

Divine Lobe.

COULD we forbear dispute, and practise love,
We should agree as angels do above;
Love only enters as a native there,

For, born in heaven, it does but sojourn here.

He that alone would wise and mighty be,
Commands that others love as well as He.
Love as He loved! How can we soar so high?
He can add wings when He commands to fly.
Nor should we be with His command dismay'd;
He that example gives, will give His aid;
For He took flesh, that where His precepts fail,
His practice as a pattern may prevail.

His love, at once, and dread, instruct our thought;
As man He suffered, and as God He taught.
Will for the deed He takes; we may with ease
Obedient be, for if we love we please.

Weak though we are, to love is no hard task,
And love for love is all that Heaven does ask.
Love, what Isaiah prophesied, can do,

Exalt the valleys, lay the mountains low,

Humble the lofty, the dejected raise,

Smooth and make straight our rough and crooked

ways.

Love as He loved! a love so unconfin'd,

With arms extended, would embrace mankind.

WALLER.

HE

Christ's Birth in an Inn.

E was a greater guest than ever came that way;
For there He lay,

That is the God of night and day,

And over all the powers of heaven doth reign.
It was the time of great Augustus' tax;

And then He comes,

That pays all sums,

Even the whole price of lost humanity,

And sets us free

From the ungodly emperie

Of sin, and Satan, and of death.

O make our hearts, blest God, Thy lodging place, And in our breast

Be pleased to rest,

For Thou lov'st temples better than an inn;
And cause that sin

May not profane the Deity within,

And sully o'er the ornaments of grace. Amen.

TAYLOR.

Df Heaven.

O BEAUTEOUS God, uncircumscribéd treasure
Of an eternal pleasure,

Thy throne is seated far

Above the highest star,
Where Thou prepar'st a glorious place,
Within the brightness of Thy face,
For every spirit

To inherit

That builds his hopes on Thy great merit, And loves Thee with a holy charity. What ravished heart, seraphic tongue, or eyes, Clear as the morning's rise,

Can speak, or think, or see

That bright eternity?

When Thou Thy jewels up dost bind; that day
Remember us, we pray;
That where the beryl lies

And the crystal, 'bove the skies,

There Thou mayst appoint us place,
Within the brightness of Thy face;

And our soul

In the scroll

Of life and blissfulness enroll,

That we may praise Thee to eternity. Allelujah.

TAYLOR.

Upon the Epiphany, and the Three Wise Men of the East coming to Worship Jesus.

A COMET dangling in the air

Presag'd the ruin both of death and sin ;

And told the wise men of a King,
The King of Glory, and the Sun
Of Righteousness, who then begun
To draw toward that blessed hemisphere.
They from the farthest east this new
And unknown light pursue,
Till they appear

In this blest infant King's propitious eye,
And pay their homage to His royalty.
Persia might then the rising Sun adore,
It was idolatry no more:
Great God, they gave to Thee
Myrrh, frankincense, and gold;

But, Lord, with what shall we

Present ourselves before Thy Majesty,
Whom Thou redeem'dst when we were sold?
We have nothing but ourselves, and scarce that either;
Accept it, Lord, and say, This Thou had'st rather;
Stamp it, and on this sordid metal make

Thy holy image, and it shall outshine

The beauty of the golden mine. Amen.

TAYLOR.

Hymn for Christmas Day.

MYSTERIOUS truth! That the self-same should be A Lamb, a Shepherd, and a Lion too!

Yet such was He

Whom first the shepherds knew,
When they themselves became
Sheep to the Shepherd Lamb.
Shepherd of men and angels, Lamb of God,
Lion of Judah, by these titles keep
The wolf from Thy endangered sheep.

Bring all the world unto Thy fold,
Let Jews and Gentiles hither come
In numbers great that can't be told,
And call Thy lambs that wander, home.
Glory be to God on high,

All glories be to th' glorious Deity.

TAYLOR.

A Prayer for Charity.

FULL of mercy, full of love,

Look upon us from above?

Thou, who taught'st the blind man's night
To entertain a double light,
O, let Thy love our pattern be;
Let Thy mercy teach one brother
To forgive and love another;
That, copying Thy mercy here,
Thy goodness may hereafter rear
Our souls unto Thy glory, when
Our dust shall cease to be with men.

TAYLOR.