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| O SACRED Providence, who from end to end | |
| Strongly and sweetly movest! shall I write | |
| And not of Thee, through whom my fingers bend | |
| To hold my quill? shall they not do Thee right? 1 | |
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| Of all the creatures both in sea and land | 5 |
| Only to man Thou hast made known Thy ways, | |
| And put the pen alone into his hand, | |
| And made him secretary of Thy praise. | |
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| Man is the world’s high priest: he doth present | |
| The sacrifice for all; while they below | 10 |
| Unto the service mutter an assent, | |
| Such as springs use that fall, and winds that blow. | |
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| He that to praise and laud Thee doth refrain | |
| Doth not refrain unto himself alone, | |
| But robs a thousand who would praise Thee fain, | 15 |
| And doth commit a world of sin in one. | |
| |
| Wherefore, most sacred Spirit, I here present | |
| For me and all my fellows praise to Thee: | |
| And just it is that I should pay the rent, | |
| Because the benefit accrues to me. | 20 |
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| Thou art in small things great, nor small in any, | |
| Thy even praise can neither rise, nor fall. | |
| Thou art in all things one, in each thing many: | |
| For thou art infinite in one and all. | |
