Oh that this grateful, little Charity, }
Forgiving others all their sins to me, }
May with my God for mine attoning be. }
I've sought around, and found no foe in view, }
Whom with the least Revenge I would pursue, }
My God, my God, dispense thy Mercies too. }
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION
Thou but permits it, Lord, 'tis we go on,
And give our selves the Provocation;
'Tis we, that prone to pleasures which invite,
Seek all the Arts to heighten vain delight;
But if without some Sin we cannot move,
May mine proceed no higher than to love;
And may thy vengeance be the less severe,
Since thou hast made the object lov'd so fair.
BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
From all the hasty Fury Passion breeds,
And into deaf and blinded Error leads,
From words that bear Damnation in the sound,
And do the Soul as well as Honour wound,
That by degrees of Madness lead us on
To Indiscretion, Shame, Confusion;
From Fondness, Lying, and Hypocrisie,
From my neglect of what I ow to thee;
From Scandal, and from Pride, divert my thought,
And from my Neighbour grant I covet nought;
From black Ingratitude, and Treason, Lord,
Guard me, even in the least unreverend word.
In my Opinion, grant, O Lord, I may, }
Be guided in the true and rightful way, }
And he that guides me may not go astray; }
Do thou, oh Lord, instruct me how to know
Not whither, but which way I am to go;
For how should I an unknown passage find,
When my instructing Guide himself is blind.
All Honour, Glory, and all Praise be given
To Kings on Earth, and to our God in Heaven.
—Amen.
SELINDA and CLORIS, made in an Entertainment at Court. By Mrs. A. B.
Selinda.
As young Selinda led her Flock,
Beneath the Shelter of a shaded Rock,
The Melancholy Cloris by,
Thus to the Lovely Maid did sighing cry.
Cloris.