2 Most blessed Vine!

Whose juice so good

I feel as wine,

But thy fair branches felt as blood,

How wert thou pressed

To be my feast!

In what deep anguish

Didst thou languish!

What springs of sweat and blood did drown thee! How in one path

Did the full wrath
Of thy great Father

Crowd and gather,

Doubling thy griefs, when none would own thee!

3 How did the weight

Of all our sins,

And death unite

To wrench and rack thy blessed limbs!

How pale and bloody

Looked thy body!

How bruised and broke,

With every stroke!

How meek and patient was thy spirit!

How didst thou cry,

And groan on high,
'Father, forgive,

And let them live!

I die to make my foes inherit!'

4 O blessed Lamb!

That took'st my sin,

That took'st my shame,

How shall thy dust thy praises sing?

I would I were
One hearty tear!
One constant spring!

Then would I bring

Thee two small mites, and be at strife
Which should most vie,

My heart or eye,

Teaching my years

In smiles and tears

To weep, to sing, thy death, my life.

RULES AND LESSONS.

1 When first thy eyes unvail, give thy soul leave
To do the like; our bodies but forerun

The spirit's duty. True hearts spread and heave
Unto their God, as flowers do to the sun.

Give him thy first thoughts then; so shalt thou keep
Him company all day, and in him sleep.

2 Yet never sleep the sun up. Prayer should
Dawn with the day. There are set, awful hours
"Twixt Heaven and us. The manna was not good
After sun-rising; far-day sullies flowers.

Rise to prevent the sun; sleep doth sins glut,
And heaven's gate opens when this world's is shut.

3 Walk with thy fellow-creatures; note the hush
And whispers amongst them. There's not a spring
Or leaf but hath his morning-hymn. Each bush
And oak doth know I AM. Canst thou not sing?

Oh, leave thy cares and follies! go this way,
And thou art sure to prosper all the day.

4 Serve God before the world; let him not go
Until thou hast a blessing; then resign

The whole unto him, and remember who
Prevailed by wrestling ere the sun did shine;
Pour oil upon the stones; weep for thy sin;
Then journey on, and have an eye to heaven.

5 Mornings are mysteries; the first world's youth,
Man's resurrection and the future's bud

Shroud in their births; the crown of life, light, truth
Is styled their star, the stone, and hidden food.

Three blessings wait upon them, two of which
Should move. They make us holy, happy, rich.

6 When the world's up, and every swarm abroad,
Keep thou thy temper; mix not with each clay;
Despatch necessities; life hath a load

Which must be carried on, and safely may.

Yet keep those cares without thee, let the heart
Be God's alone, and choose the better part.

7 Through all thy actions, counsels, and discourse,
Let mildness and religion guide thee out;

If truth be thine, what needs a brutish force?
But what's not good and just ne'er go about.
Wrong not thy conscience for a rotten stick;
That gain is dreadful which makes spirits sick.

8 To God, thy country, and thy friend be true;
If priest and people change, keep thou thy ground.
Who sells religion is a Judas Jew;

And, oaths once broke, the soul cannot be sound.

The perjurer's a devil let loose: what can

Tie up his hands that dares mock God and man?

9 Seek not the same steps with the crowd; stick thou To thy sure trot; a constant, humble mind

VOL. II.

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Is both his own joy, and his Maker's too;
Let folly dust it on, or lag behind.

A sweet self-privacy in a right soul
Outruns the earth, and lines the utmost pole.

10 To all that seek thee bear an open heart;
Make not thy breast a labyrinth or trap;
If trials come, this will make good thy part,
For honesty is safe, come what can hap;

It is the good man's feast, the prince of flowers,
Which thrives in storms, and smells best after
showers.

but give

11 Seal not thy eyes up from the poor,
Proportion to their merits, and thy purse;
Thou may'st in rags a mighty prince relieve,
Who, when thy sins call for 't, can fence a curse.
Thou shalt not lose one mite. Though waters stray,
The bread we cast returns in fraughts one day.

12 Spend not an hour so as to weep another,

For tears are not thine own; if thou giv'st words, Dash not with them thy friend, nor Heaven; oh, smother

A viperous thought; some syllables are swords.

Unbitted tongues are in their penance double;
They shame their owners, and their hearers trouble.

13 Injure not modest blood, while spirits rise
In judgment against lewdness; that's base wit
That voids but filth and stench. Hast thou no prize
But sickness or infection? stifle it.

Who makes his jest of sins, must be at least,
If not a very devil, worse than beast.

14 Yet fly no friend, if he be such indeed;

But meet to quench his longings, and thy thirst;
Allow your joys, religion: that done, speed,
And bring the same man back thou wert at first.
Who so returns not, cannot pray aright,

But shuts his door, and leaves God out all night.

15 To heighten thy devotions, and keep low

All mutinous thoughts, what business e'er thou hast,
Observe God in his works; here fountains flow,
Birds sing, beasts feed, fish leap, and the earth stands
fast;

Above are restless motions, running lights,

Vast circling azure, giddy clouds, days, nights.

16 When seasons change, then lay before thine eyes His wondrous method; mark the various scenes In heaven; hail, thunder, rainbows, snow, and ice, Calms, tempests, light, and darkness, by his means; Thou canst not miss his praise; each tree, herb, flower

Are shadows of his wisdom and his power.

17 To meals when thou dost come, give him the praise
Whose arm supplied thee; take what may suffice,
And then be thankful; oh, admire his ways
Who fills the world's unemptied granaries!
A thankless feeder is a thief, his feast
A very robbery, and himself no guest.

18 High-noon thus past, thy time decays; provide

Thee other thoughts; away with friends and mirth;
The sun now stoops, and hastes his beams to hide
Under the dark and melancholy earth.