|  | | Henry Vaughan 
   
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 |  | To my most merciful, my most loving, and dearly loved REDEEMER,
the ever blessed,  the only
 HOLY and JUST
ONE,
 JESUS CHRIST,       The Son of the living GOD, and the
sacred
Virgin Mary.1
 
 
|  | I.
MY God !  Thou that didst die for me, These Thy death's fruits I offer Thee ;
 Death that to me was life and light,
 But dark and deep pangs to Thy sight.
 Some drops of Thy all-quick'ning blood
 Fell on my heart ; those made it bud,
 And put forth thus, though, Lord, before
 The ground was curs'd, and void of store.
 Indeed I had some here to hire
 Which long resisted Thy desire,
 That ston'd Thy servants, and did move
 To have Thee murder'd for Thy love ;
 But, Lord, I have expell'd them, and so bent,
 Beg Thou wouldst take Thy tenant's rent.
 II.Dear Lord, 'tis finished !  and now he That copied it, presents it Thee.
 'Twas thine first, and to Thee returns,
 From Thee it shin'd, though here it burns.
 If the Sun rise on rocks, is't right
 To call it their inherent light ?
 No, nor can I say, this is mine,
 For, dearest Jesus, 'tis all Thine ;
 As Thy clothes, when Thou with clothes wert clad,
 Both light from Thee, and virtue had ;
 And now,as then, within this place
 Thou to poor rags dost still give grace.
 This is the earnest Thy love sheds,
 The candle shining on some heads,
 Till at Thy charges they shall be
 Cloth'd all with immortality.
 III.My dear Redeemer, the world's light, And life too, and my heart's delight !
 For all Thy mercies and Thy truth,
 Show'd to me in my sinful youth,
 For my sad failings and my wild
 Murmurings at Thee, when most mild ;
 For all my secret faults, and each
 Frequent relapse and wilful breach,
 For all designs meant against Thee
 And ev'ry publish'd vanity,
 Which Thou divinely hast forgiven,
 While Thy blood wash'd me white as heaven ;
 I nothing have to give to Thee,
 But this Thy own gift, given to me.
 Refuse it not ;  for now Thy token
 Can tell Thee where a heart is broken.
 
 |  
 | REVEL. CAP. I. VER. 5, 6, 7. 
 Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our
 sins in His own blood.
 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and
 His Father ;  to Him be glory and dominion, for ever
 and ever.   Amen.
 Behold He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall
 see Him, and they also which pierced Him ;  and all
 kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him : even
 so,  Amen.
 
 
 1  In the first edition the heading is simply The Dedica-
 tion, and only the first stanza is given.
 
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 Source:
 Vaughan, Henry. The Poems of Henry Vaughan, Silurist. vol I.
 E. K. Chambers, Ed.  London, Lawrence & Bullen Ltd., 1896. 13-15.
 
 
 
 
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