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This day my Saviour rose,
And did enclose this light for his;
That, as each beast his manger knows,
Man might not of his fodder miss.
Christ hath took in this piece of ground,
And made a garden there for those
Who want herbs for their wound.

The rest of our creation

Our great Redeemer did remove

With the same shake which, at his passion,
Did the earth and all things with it move.

As Samson bore the doors away,

Christ's hands, though nail'd, wrought our salvation, And did unhinge that day.

The brightness of that day We sullied by our foul offence:

Wherefore that robe we cast away,

Having a new at his expense,

Whose drops of blood paid the full price,
That was required to make us gay,
And fit for paradise.

Thou art a day of mirth:

And where the week-days trail on ground,
Thy flight is higher, as thy birth:

O let me take thee at the bound,

Leaping with thee from seven to seven,

Till that we both, being toss'd from earth,
Fly hand in hand to heaven.

Herbert.

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A LESSON FROM COMPARISONS.

Flame goes to heav'n, from whence it once did come,
Bids earth adieu, and what it hath therefrom
The snuff to ashes, smoke turns into air;
Light's beauty's gone, which sometime was so fair;
When death hath given his last and fatal blow,
Our soul to heaven, our earth to earth doth go;
Riches and honours, which it once did love,
The soul now loathes, and seeks to dwell above:
Learn, mortals, all false pleasure to contemn,
And treasures which the soul must once condemn:
Seek rather for the graces of the mind,

Which you your convoy to the heaven will find.

Fairlie's Lychnocausia;

or, Light's Moral Emblems, 1638.

LIFE A TRAGEDY.

Man's life's a tragedy; his mother's womb
From which he enters is the tiring-room;
This spacious earth the theatre; and the stage
That country which he lives in; passion, rage,

Folly, and vice, are actors; the first cry
The prologue to the ensuing tragedy:
The former act consisteth of dumb shows;
The second he to more perfection grows;
In the third he is a man, and doth begin
To nurture vice, and act the deeds of sin;
In the fourth declines; in the fifth diseases clog
And trouble him; then death's his epilogue.
Sir Henry Wotton.

THE TWO FOLDING-DOORS.

Death is a gate, that opens differently
Two folding-doors, which lead contrary ways;
Thro' this the good man finds felicity,
The bad thro' that to endless ruin strays:
Herein they both the self-same rule retain,
Who enters once, must ne'er return again.

Henry Baker.

SOUL-EMBLEMS.

The soul on earth is an immortal guest,
Compell'd to starve at an unreal feast:
A spark that upward tends by nature's force,
A stream diverted from its parent source;
A drop dissever'd from the boundless sea,
A moment parted from eternity;

A pilgrim panting for a rest to come,
An exile anxious for his native home.

More.

THE DEW AND THE SMALL RAIN.

The doctrine of the Gospel is like the dew and the small rain that distilleth upon the tender grass, wherewith it doth flourish and is kept green. Christians are like the several flowers in a garden, that have each of them the dew of heaven, which, being shaken with the wind, they let fall at each others' roots, whereby they are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other.

Bunyan.

LIFE A SHADOW.

Life a right shadow is;

For if it long appear,

Then is it spent, and death's long night draws near; Shadows are moving light,

And is there ought so moving as is this?

When it is most in sight,

It steals away, and none knows here or where,

So near our cradles to our coffins are.

Drummond.

PRECEPT AND PRACTICE.

The snuffers in the tabernacle were directed to be made of pure gold-the moral of which seems to be, that they who profess to make others burn brighter, must "take heed that the light that is in them be not darkness."

THE WORLD A HIVE.

The world's a hive,

From whence thou canst derive

No good, but what thy soul's vexation brings:

But case thou meet

Some petty, petty sweet,

Each drop is guarded with a thousand stings.

Quarles.

LIFE IN A CRAZY SHIP AND TROUBLED SEA.

They who in a crazy vessel navigate a sea, wherein are shoals and currents innumerable, if they would keep their course or reach their port in safety, must carefully repair the smallest injuries, and often throw out their line and take their observations. In the voyage of life also, the Christian who would not make shipwreck of his faith, while he is habitually watchful and provident, must often make it his express business to look into his state, and to ascertain his progress.

Wilberforce.

THE NARROW CIRCLE OF LIFE.

Our life is but a narrow circle, and when in its centre we are not far from its edge; and as we daily advance towards its boundaries, let us keep the transition that awaits us constantly before our eyes.

Henry Martyn.

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