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Shore to thy weary Difciples labouring

at Sea.

Labouring all Night, alas, in vain; without the Bleffing of their beloved Jefus :

Thou fhew'd'ft thy felf, and told'st them who thou wert, in the kind known Token of a beneficial Miracle.

Through the Doors, though fhut, thou fwiftly paffed'ft, to carry Peace to thy comfortless Friends;

To encourage their Fears with thy powerful Prefence, and fecure their Faith by thy charitable Arguments.

How didst thou condefend to eat before them, and invite them to touch thy impaffible Body!

How didft thou fweetly provoke that incredulous Servant to thrust his Hand into thy wounded Side!

Actions, we know, unfit for thy glorified State; but abfolutely neceffary for our flow Belief.

How often, O my gracious Lord, in those bleffed Forty Days, did thy Charity caft to meet with thy Difciples!

That thou might'ft teach them still some excellent Truth; and imprint still deeper thy Love in their Hearts.

Difcourfing perpetually of the Kingdom of Heaven, and establishing Means to bring us thither.

At last, when all thy glorious Task was done, and thy parting Hour from this Earth. approached. C 3

Thou

Thou tenderly gatheredft thy Children about Thee, and in their full Sight went't up to Heaven;

Leaving thy deareft Bleffing on their Heads, and promifing them a Comforter to fupply thine Abfence.

O how adorable are thy Counfels, O Lord! how strangely endearing are the Ways of thy Love!

Say now, my Soul, is not this Evidence clear enough to answer all our darkest Doubts?

Is not this Hope abundantly fufficient to fweeten all our bittereft Sorrows?

What, though we mourn and be afflicted here; and figh under the Miseries of this World for a time?

We're fure our Tears fhall one Day be turn'd into Joy; and that Joy none shall take from us.

Yet we undoubtedly know our Redeemer lives, and fhall appear in Brightness at the laft great Day.

He fhall appear in the midst of innumerable Angels, and with thefe very Eyes we fhall fee Him:

We fhall fee Him in whom we have fo long believed; we shall find Him whom we have so often fought:

We shall poflefs Him whom our Souls have lov'd; and be united to Him for ever, who is the only End of our Being.

Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was, &c.

PSALM

R

PSALM VI.

Aife thy Head, O my Soul, and look up and behold the Glory of thy Crucified Saviour.

He that was dead and laid in the Grave, low enough to prove himself Man,

Is risen again and afcended into Heaven, high enough to prove himself God.

He is rifen, and made the Light his Garment, and commanded the Clouds to be the Chariot of his Triumph.

The Gates of Heaven obeyed their Lord; and the Everlasting Doors opened to the King of Glory.

Enter, bright King, attended with thy beauteous Angels; and the glad Train of Saints, who arofe, and came out of their Graves after the Refurrection.

Enter and re-poffefs thy ancient Throne; and reign Eternally at the Right-Hand of

the Father.

May every Knee bow low at thy exalted Name; and every Tongue confess thy Glory. May all created Nature adore thy Power, and the Church of thy Redeemed exult in thy Goodness.

Whom have we in Heaven, O Lord, but Thee, who exprefly wenteft thither to make way for thy Followers?

What have we on Earth but our Hope, by following Thee, to arrive at last where thou art gone before us?

O glorious Jefus, our Strength, our Joy, and the immortal Life of our Souls;

Be thou the principal Subject of all our Studies; and daily Entertainment of our most serious Thoughts.

Draw us, O dear Lord, from the World and our felves; that we be not entangled with any Earthly Defires.

Draw us after Thee,and the Odours of thy Sweetness; that we may run with Delight the Ways of thy Commands.

Draw us up to Thee on thy Throne of Blifs; that we may fee thy Face, and rejoyce with Thee for ever in thy Kingdom. Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the Beginning, &c.

VV

PSALM VII.

HY fhould our Hearts ftill dwell upon Earth, fince the Treasure of our Hearts is return'd to Heaven? Since our Glorified Jefus is afcended above; to prepare us a Place in his own Kingdom?

A Place of Reft and fecure Peace, where we shall fee, and praife, and adore him for

ever:

A Place of Joy and everlafting Fruition; where we fhall love, and poffefs, and delight in Him for ever.

O happy we and our poor Souls, if once admitted to that blissful Vision! If once thofe Heavenly Portals unfold

their Gates; and let us in to the Joys of the Lord.

How will our Spirits be ravish'd within themselves; to reflect on the Fulness of their own Beatitude!

How shall we all rejoyce in one another's Felicity; but infinitely more in the infinitely greater Felicity of our God!

Ŏ Heaven! towards thee we lift up our languishing Heads, and with longing Hearts and stretched out Hands, reach at thy Glories.

When, O thou Finisher of all our Hopes; when shall we once behold that incomparable Light?

That Light, which illuminates the Eyes of Angels, and renews the Youth of Saints. That Light, which is thy very self, O Lord our God! whom we fhall there fee Face to Face.

Whom we shall there know as we are known: We shall know Thee in thine own clear Light.

Till we be called from this Veil of Darknefs, into the glorious Prefence of the Living God.

To fee him that made the Heavens and the Earth; and difpofes all Creatures into fuch beauteous Order;

To fee him who firft gave us our Being, then govern'd us in our Way, and brought us at length to fo bleft an End.

Mean

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