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Meeknefs; who, amidst the most provoking Infults, was "dumb and opened not his Mouth."

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Great Source of Day, addrefs thy radiant Homage to a far fublimer Sun; write, in all thy ample Round, with every lucid Beam, O write HIS Praife; whofe Word, accompanied with his Spirit, fheds brighter Light, and more exhilerating Rays, through the Mind.-Shine clear, ye Skies; look gay, thou Earth; let every Creature fmile; for, by the Appearance of the Sun of Righteoufnefs, Peace is made with Heaven, and Joy come down to dwell on Earth. -Angels and Arch-Angels, O let your Songs be of JESUS, and teach the Heaven of Heavens. to eccho with his honoured Name: Ye beheld Him, with greater Tranfports of Admiration, when You attended his Agony in the Garden, and faw Him proftrate on the Ground; than when You beheld univerfal Nature rifing at his Call, and faw the Wonders of creating Might tune, tune to loftieft Notes your golden Harps, and waken Raptures unknown before even in heavenly Breafts: while all that has Breath, fwells the facred Concert, and burfts into a boundles Peal of Melody.

CHIEFLY, let Man exalt his Voice; let Man, with diftinguished Hofannas, hail the REDEEMER. For Man, He was ftretched on the racking Crofs; for Man, He was configned to

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the gloomy Sepulchre. However different, therefore, in your Age, or more different in your Circumstances, be unanimous in magnifying a Saviour, who is no Refpecter of Perfons; who gave himself a Ranfom for All.-Bend, ye Kings, from your Thrones; in your imperial Robes, fall proftrate at HIS Feet; who forfcok a nobles Throne for You; who makes all his People "Kings to GOD for ever."Children of Po verty, meaneft of Mortals, (if any can be called poor, who are thus enriched ; if any y can be accounted mean, who are thus ennobled ;) rejoyce, greatly rejoyce in GoD your Saviour; who chose to be poor, chofe to be contemned, that You might poffefs the Riches, and be numbered with the Princes, of Heaven. Sons of Affliction, though harraffed with Pain, and inured to Anguifh, O change your Groans into Songs of Gratitude; let no complaining Voice, no jarring String be heard, in the universal Sym-phony; but glorify the LAMB even in the Fires ;who himself bore greater Anguish, than You feel, and has promifed You a Share in the Joy, He inherits; who has made your Sufferings fhort, and will make your Reft eternal. Men of boary Locks, bending beneath a Weight of Years, and tottering on the Brink of the Grave; let CHRIST be your Support, under all Infirmities; lean upon CHRIST, as the Rock of your Sal

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vation; let his Name, his precious Name form the laft Accents, that quiver on your pale expiring Lips, and let this be the firft, that lifps on your Tongues, ye tender Infants: remember your REDEEMER in your earliest Moments: devote the choice of your Hours to the learning of his Will, and the chief of your Strength to the Glorifying of HIS Name; who, in the Perfection of Health, and the very Prime of Manhood, was content to become a motionlefs and ghaftly Corpse; that You might be girt with the Vigour, and cloathed with the Bloom, of immortal Youth.

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YE Spirits of juft Men made perfect, who are releafed from the Burthen of the Flesh, and freed from all the vexatious Sollicitations of Corruption in Yourselves, delivered from all the dreadful Effects of Iniquity in Others: Who fojourn no longer in the Tents of Strife, or the Territories of Disorder; but are received into that pure, har monious, holy Society, where no ungenerous Action creates outward Irregularity, no fufpicious Jealoufies breed inward Difaffection; where Every one acts up to his amiable and exalted Character; where GOD himfelf is pleafed graciously and immediately to prefide.You find, not without pleafing Aftonishment, your Hopes im-r proved into actual Enjoyment, and your Faith delightfully fuperfeded by the Beatifick Vifion :

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You feel all your former Shynefs of Behaviour, happily loft in the Overflowings of unbounded Love; and all your little Differences in Opinion entirely overwhelmed in the Tides of invariable Truth: Blefs therefore with all your enlarged Powers, blefs His infinitely larger Goodness, who when He had overcome the Sharpness of Death, opened the Gates of Paradife, opened the Kingdom of Heaven, to all Generations, and to every Denomination, of the Faithful.

YE Men of holy Converfation, and humble Tempers, think of HIM, who loved You, and wafhed You from your Sins in his own Blood; O think of Him, on your filent Couch; talk of Him, in every focial Interview: glory in his Excellencies; make your Boaft of his Obedience; and add, ftill continue to add, the Mufick of a dutiful Life, to all the Oblations of a grateful Tongue.-Weakest of Believers, who go mourning under a Sense of Guilt, and conflicting with the ceafelefs Affaults of Temptation, O put off your Sack-cloth, and be girded with Gladnefs. Because, JESUS, is as merciful to hear as He is mighty to help. Because, He knows your Integrity, amidst all your Failings; He is touched with the tendereft fympathizing Concern for all your Diftreffes; and He lives, ever lives to be your Advocate with the FATHER.Why then should uneafy Doubts fadden your Countenances?

Countenances? Why fhould defponding Fears opprefs your Souls? Turn, turn thofe difconfolate Sighs into chearful Hymns; fince you have his powerful Interceffion, his inestimable Merits to be your Anchor in all Tribulations, to be your Paffport into eternal Bleffednefs.-Above all, O Ye Minifters of the Sanctuary, Heralds commiffioned from above, lift every One his Voice like a Trumpet, and loudly proclaim the REDEEMER. Get Ye up, Ye Ambaffadors of Peace, get Ye up into the high Mountains, and fpread far and wide the Honours of the LA M B, "that was "flain, but is alive for evermore." Teach every facred Roof to refound with his Fame, and every human Heart to glow with his Love. Declare, as far as the Force of Words will go, O declare the inconceivable Richness of that atoning Blood, whofe Merits are commenfurate with the Glories of the DIVINITY *. Tell the finful Wretch,

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* If in this Place, and others, I have spoken magnificently of the Blood of CHRIST, and its unknown Efficacy to expiate Guilt; I think, it is no more than is expreffed in a very celebrated Hymn; written by one of the greatest Wits, who had also been one of the greatest Libertines, and afterwards commenced one of the moft remarkable Penitents, in France. A Hymn, which even Mr Bayle confeffes to be a very fine one ; which another great Critic calls an admirable one; and which a Genius fuperior to them both, recomVOL. I. T

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