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NEver will we cease to exalt thy Goodnes O JESU; since thou never ceasest to ob∣lige us with new Blessings:
Thy generous charity could not thus be sa∣tisfyd; to have only spoken to us the words of lif
'Twas not enough for thy excessive love that thy heav'nly Sermons told us our duty:
But thou must urge and provoke our obedi∣ence;
by the sweet inforcement of thine own example:
Thou forbad'st thy followers to affect super∣fluitys; and thine own provision was a few barly loavs:
Thou command'st the rich to give alms with cheerfulnes; and bestow'st on the poorest wretch even thy precious self:
Thou bid'st us not fear them that kill the bo∣dy; and yeildest up thine own to the death on the Cross:
Thou injoyn'st us to love our fiercest Enemys; and thy dying breath pray'd for thy Crucifiers:
Thy perfect Soul needed not, as our weak na∣tures, * the outward forms and discipline of Re∣ligion:
Yet thou vouchsafed'st to observe the common Feasts; and assist at the publique Offices of the Temple:
To watch, and pray, and fast, with so fervent a zeal; that thy practice outdid thine own pre∣cepts:
This life, and even death it self our merciful Lord undertook; to mark out for us the way to heav'n.
To beat it plain by his own sacred steps; and render our passage thither easy and secure:
Shal we not then, O my Soul, rejoycingly follow that path; * which we see our Saviour trod before us?
Which we see though spred all o're with thorns; yet carried Him directly to the glory's of Paradise?
Shal we not confidently rely on so gracous a Leader; who promises, if we faint, to look back and relieve us?
O dearest Lord, bow down thy merciful eys, and pity the frailtys of our imperfect nature:
Reach forth thy hand and strengthen us with thy grace; that nothing divert our advance to∣wards Thee:
But in this dangerous labyrinth of the world, * and the whole course of our pilgrimage here:
Thy heav'nly Dictates may be our map, * and thy holy life our guide:
Glory, be, &c.