Hymn XII. For the Birth day of any Man or Woman.
[_]
They who observe their Birth Dayes, (which many
anciently have done, and some yet do) may hereby be remembred of such Meditations as are pertinent
to this Anniversarie; and God may be
thereby, the more often praised for our Temporall Being.
Sing this as the former.
[1]
Lord! on this Day, thou didst bestow
A breathing-Life on me.
This Day, an Actor, here below
I, first, begun to be.
And, but few Rounds, the Sun hath made,
Since, I, that now am here,
No portion of an Essence had,
Except, in Thee, it were.
2
But, now, there is a part of me,
(And, Lord, from Thee it springs)
That shall both nam'd, and numbred be
With Everlasting-Things.
And, that, which Time, doth weare away,
Times-Ruine, will restore,
To be rejoyn'd thereto, for aye,
When Time shall be no more.
3
We, now, are thy Probationers,
And, as we run this Race,
The Life which is to come, prefers
To Honour, or Disgrace.
And, they which here, the Pathway misse,
That unto Vertue, tends,
Shall finde no means, nor Hope of Blisse,
When this briefe Life-time ends.
4
Another Yeere is now begun;
And yet, I do not see
How for the Time, which forth is run,
I can Account to Thee.
For, I confesse, I have mispent,
My Longings, to fulfill,
The Times, which unto me, were lent,
To execute thy Will.
5
And, in the Dayes which are behinde,
(Behinde, if any be)
What profit can I hope to finde?
What will they pleasure me?
Since (though Time-past, I might redeeme)
So much that Work will cost
As (first or last) my Time will seeme,
In hazard to be lost.
6
Lord, let this Day of my First-Birth,
Occasion, yeerely, give
To keep me Mindfull, why on Earth
My Being, I receive.
And, of my Second-Birth, likewise,
So minde Thou Me, thereby,
That, I to Life, may not arise
A Second-Death, to die.
7
But, let this Day, and all the Daies,
Which I, hereafter, view
Employed be to give Thee praise,
To whom all Praise, is due.
And, thus let no man say of me
When I to Dust return;
Oh! well with Him, now would it be,
If He, had nev'r been born.
