He faves, when he does stubborn Hearts fubdue,

And makes their Sorrow and Repentance true;
When into envious Hearts, he does inftil
Brotherly Love, and permanent Good-will:
He faves, when Unbelievers he does free
From Self-conceit, and Infidelity;
He faves th'Unjuft, by making them restore
What they can't call their own, and wrong

no more.

Lyars, and Murderers, and the Profane, Who fwear and curfe, and take God's Name in vain ;

And other heinous Sinners, when in Pain,
In fore Affliction, and great Mifery,
And Confcience fuffers grievous Agony,
Then, if these Troubles God doth fanctify
To them, that they confider, and no more
Do foolishly, as they have done before,
But, by a true Repentance, turn to God,
Chrift gives them Faith, and faves them by his

Blood.

He

He faves, when he reforms, when he does caufe
The Difobedient to obferve his Laws;
When he gives Grace to raife our Minds on
high,

And to ourselves, and to the World to die;
When he renews, and makes us wife and bright,
Meet for th'Inheritance of Saints in Light.
Thus, fave me, O my Saviour, and my Lord,
And Thou by me fhalt ever be adcr'd.

TO God, the Father, Son,

And Spirit ever bleft,

Eternal Three in One,

All worship be addrest ;.

As heretofore

It was, is now,

And fhall be fo

For evermore.

Amen.

On

On the Circumcifion of our Lord Jefus Christ, being New-Year's - Day, January 1.

Ille negat Chriftum, qui fe non abnegat ipfum.

THIS

HIS Day, the Eighth, from Chrift's Nativity,

The Church doth keep in facred Memory Of his fubmitting to be circumcis'd ; (As afterwards he did to be baptiz'd ;) Not that there was in him Impurity In any, no not in the least Degree; But he endur'd the circumcifing Knife For us, and finally laid down his Life. For us he did most punct'ally fulfil The Law, for us his precious Blood did spill. And had our Saviour not been circumcis'd, He by the Jews would have been more defpis'd,

And

And fo in lefs Capacity have been

Of doing Good among his Countrymen.

JEWS into Covenant admitted were By Circumcifion, as now Chriftians are then

By Baptifm; and as the Ifraelite,

A

Who did contemn this outward Jewish Rite The Sacrament of Circumcifion,

Was by the Law to die for that alone

So now, he who himself a Chriftian calls,
And yet into fuch Obftinacy falls
As the external Baptifm to neglect,
And with Contempt finally to reject,
Being not born of Water and the Spirit,
How should this Man eternal Life inherit? +
When Chrift the outward Washing did ordain
A Means to purify the inward Man,

They who that inward Grace defire to have,
The outward Sign and Seal they must receive.
Since This Chrift inftituted to convey

His Grace to us, 'tis our Part to obey.

NOT

* Gen. xvii. 14.

† John iii. 5.

Nor that the outward washing of the Face
Can avail any without inward Grace;
No more than Circumcifion outwardly
Could profit without inward Purity.*
Therefore, we fee the great Neceffity
Of the true Circumcifion inwardly,
That we all Filthinefs fhould lay afide,
And fenfual Naughtiness fhould not abide;
But our corrupt Affections mortify,
And fleshly Lufts and Paffions crucify;
A Life of Self-denial we must live,
We fhould, if we the Gofpel do believe :
We from forbidden Pleasures must abstain,
And from Excels in lawful, must refrain;
This is the Circumcifion of the Spirit,
Which they fhould have, who Heaven would
inherit.

Then, for this Circumcifion let us pray,
That we in all Things may God's Will obey.

LASTLY,

*Rom. ii. 28, 29.