Let the birds seek their nest,
Foxes their holes, and man his peaceful bed;
Come, Saviour, in my breast
Deign to repose Thine oft rejected head!

Come! give me rest, and take

The only rest on earth Thou lovest,—within
A heart, that for thy sake
Lies bleeding, broken, penitent for sin.

Remember not, Lord, our iniquities.

SIGHS AND GROANS.

GEORGE HERBERT.

O Do not use me

After my sins! look not on my desert,
But on Thy glory; then Thou wilt reform,

And not refuse, me.

The mighty God;

For Thou only art

but I, a silly worm.

O do not bruise me !

O do not urge me!

For what account can Thy ill steward make?
I have abused Thy stock, destroyed Thy woods,
Sucked all Thy magazines. My head did ache
Till it found out how to consume Thy goods.
O do not scourge me!

O do not blind me!

I have deserved that an Egyptian night

Should thicken all my powers, because my lust Hath still sewed fig-leaves to exclude Thy light. But I am frailty, and already dust;

O do not grind me!

O do not fill me

With the turned vial of Thy bitter wrath!
For Thou hast other vessels, full of blood,
A part whereof my Saviour emptied hath,
Even unto death. Since He died for my good,
O do not kill me!

But O reprieve me!

For Thou hast life and death at Thy command;
Thou art both Judge and Saviour, Feast and Rod,
Cordial and Corrosive. Put not Thy hand

Into the bitter box; but, O my God,
My God, relieve me!

Remember not, Lord, our iniquities.

LAMENTATION OF A SINNER.

HYMNS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH.

O LORD, turn not Thy face away
From him that lies prostrate,
Lamenting sore his sinful life,

Before Thy mercy-gate,

Which Thou dost open wide to those
Who do lament their sin :
O shut it not against me, Lord,
But let me enter in.

Call me not to a strict account
How I have lived here;

For then I know right well, O Lord,
How vile I shall appear.

For surely Thou canst tell

What I have been and what I am
Thou knowest very well.

O Lord, I need not to repeat
What I do beg and crave;

For Thou dost know before I ask,
The thing that I would have.

Mercy, good Lord, mercy I ask,
This is the total sum:
For mercy, Lord, is all my suit;
O, let Thy mercy come.

Remember not, Lord, our iniquities,
For the iniquities of our forefathers.

REPENTANCE.

GEORGE HERBERT.

LORD, I confess my sin is great;

Great is my sin. O gently treat

With Thy quick flower, Thy momentary bloom! Whose life, still pressing,

Is one undressing,

A steady aiming at a tomb.

Man's age is two hours' work, or three;
Each day doth round about us see.
Thus are we to delights: but we are all
To sorrows old,

If life be told

From what life feeleth, Adam's fall.

O let Thy height of mercy then
Compassionate short-breathed men.

Cut me not off for my most foul transgression:
I do confess

My foolishness:

My God, accept of my confession.

Sweeten, at length, this bitter bowl, Which Thou hast poured into my soul : Thy wormwood turn to health; winds to fair

weather;

For if Thou stay,

I and this day,

As we did rise, we die, together.

When Thou for sin rebukest man, Forthwith he waxeth woe and wan: Bitterness fills our bowels; all our hearts

Pine and decay,

And drop away,

And

carry

with them the other parts.

But Thou wilt sin and grief destroy ;
That so the broken bones may joy,
And tune together in a well-set song,
Full of His praises

Who dead men raises.

Fractures well cured make us more strong.