THE LITANY... 1. THE FATHER. FATHER of heav'n, and him by whom From this red earth, O Father! purge away II. THE SON. O SON of God! who seeing two things, Sin and death, crept in, which were never made, The other could thine heritage invade, Part not from it, tho' it from thee would part, Drown'd in thy blood, and in thy passion slain. 10 III. THE HOLY GHOST. O HOLY GHOST! whose temple I Am, but of mud walls and condensed dust, And being sacrilegiously Half wasted with youth's fires, of pride and lust, Double in my heart thy flame, Which let devout sad tears intend, and let (Tho' this glass lanthorn, flesh, do suffer maim) Fire, sacrifice, priest, altar, be the same. IV. THE TRINITY,. O BLESSED, glorious Trinity! 65 Most slipp'riness, yet most entanglings hath, By pow'r, love, knowledge, be, Of these let all me elemented be, Of pow'r to love, to know you unnumb'red Three.^ V. THE VIRGIN MARY. FOR that fair blessed Mother-maid, 20 30 Which unlock'd Paradise, and made One claim for innocence, and disseiz'd sin; Our zealous thanks we pour. As her deeds were AND since this life our nonage.is, And we in wardship to thine Angels be, Where we shall be but denizon'd by thee; Yields fair diversity, Yet never knows what course that light doth run; So let me study that mine actions be Worthy their sight, tho' blind in how they see. VII. THE PATRIARCHS. AND let thy Patriarchs' desire (Those great grandfathers of thy church, which saw More in the cloud than we in fire, Whom Nature clear'd more than us grace and law, And now in heav'n still pray that we 50 May use our new helps right): X Be satisfy'd, and fructify in me: Let not my mind be blinder by more light, THY eagle-sighted Prophets, too, One law, and did unite, but not confound; Thy will, and it express In rythmic feet) 'in common pray for me, That I by them excuse not my excess In seeking secrets or poeticness. 65 70 IX. THE APOSTLES. AND thy illustrious zodiac Of twelve apostles, which ingirt this all, (From whom who soe'er do not take Their light, to dark deep pits thrown down do fall) That their books are divine, May they pray still, and be heard, that I go Volume 11. I T X. THE MARTYRS. AND since thou so desirously Didst long to die, that long before thou couldst, In thine, let their blood come To beg for us a discreet patience Of death, or of worse life; for, oh! to some XI. THE CONFESSORS. THEREFORE with thee triumpheth there Hourly tempestuous persecutions grow. XII. THE VIRGINS. THE Cold white-snowy nunnery, (Which, as thy mother, their high abbess, sent Their bodies back again to thee, As thou hadst lent them, clean and innocent) Tho' they have not obtain'd of thee |