Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Let others boast their ancient line
In long succession great;
In the proud list, let heroes shine,
And monarchs swell the state;
Descended from the King of kings,
Each saint a nobler title sings.

Pronounce me, gracious God! thy son,
Own me an heir divine;
I'll pity princes on the throne,
When I can call thee mine:
Sceptres and crowns unenvied rise,
And lose their lustre in mine eyes.

Content, obscure, I pass my days,
To all I meet unknown:
And wait till thou thy child shalt raise,
And seat me near thy throne:
No name, no honours here I crave,
Well pleas'd with those beyond the grave.

Jesus, my elder brother, lives;
With him I too shall reign;
Nor sin, nor death, while he survives,
Shall make the promise vain:
In him my title stands secure,
And shall while endless years endure.

When he, in robes divinely bright,
Shall once again appear,
Thou too, my soul, shalt shine in light,
And his full image bear:
Enough!—I wait th' appointed day;
Bless'd Saviour, haste, and come away.
                Cruttenden

After this manner therefore pray ye:  Our Father which art in heaven.....Matthew 6:9

.....It is the glory of Princes, to have titles to express their greatness; but it is thy glory, O God, to have a title to express thy love and therefore thou hast given thy self a Name, respecting more the subject than the Prince, and lest it should be too big for us thou hast made it too little for thy self.  Thou wouldst not say, King of glory, lest as beggers we should be out of countenance at thy Majesty; nor Lord of hosts, lest as enemies we should tremble at thy power; nor Judge of the world, lest as guilty we should fear thy sentences; but thou callest thy self Our Father:  the lowest name that humility could descend unto, and yet the highest, that love could aspire unto; to give us as being thy children, as well courage to ask.....
     The dear bargains, wherewith thou hast purchased this name, are evident tokens of the dear account, wherein thou holdest it, and it is an easy labour to find, how much thou dost make of man; if we do but look how much thou didst labour to make man.....And as thou didst shew more love by more labour, in thy creating us; so thou hast showed more love by more cost, in thy redeeming us:  for thou gavest thy begotten Son, to make us thine adopted sons, and wert contented he should call us Brother, to the end, we might call thee Father, and sentest him of a message into hell, to provide us of a passage into heaven.
     As thy mercy was infinite, of enemies to make us children; so thy bounty is immeasurable, of children to make us heirs:  and though not all, heirs in an equality; yet all, with so impartial a partition, that none shall have so much, to leave less for the rest; nor none shall have so little, to desire more from the other:  None shall be so exalted; to condemn others as mean:  nor none shall be so mean, to envy others as exalted; but every one to be owner of so goodly an inheritance, that to survey the greatness, we must have clearer eyes:  and to conceive the excellency, diviner hearts.  Thou hast vouchsafed us the honour to be thy children; Vouchsafe us the grace also to be thine obedient children; that as thou gloriest, in expressing thy love to us, so we may glory in performing our duties to thee; and that, though our forefathers gave thee cause, to repent thee of creating man; yet we their posterity, may give thee no cause to repent thee of adopting man.....
                                                                                                                           Sir Richard Baker

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