The beating of thy pulse (when thou art well) Is just the tolling of thy passing bell: Night is thy hearse, whose sable canopy Covers alike deceased day and thee. 10 And all those weeping dews which nightly fall, Are but the tears shed for thy funeral. [_My Midnight Meditation._] 11 which] _MS._ 'that'. In _Parnassus Biceps_, p. 80, with title 'On Man': ll. 9-10 are absent from this version. Mr. Thorn-Drury thinks that this is Dr. _John_ King's (so ascribed in Malone MS. 21, fol. 2_b_, and Mr. Dobell's MS. of Strode).] _A Penitential Hymn._ Hearken, O God, unto a wretch's cries, Who low dejected at thy footstool lies. Let not the clamour of my heinous sin Drown my requests, which strive to enter in At those bright gates, which always open stand To such as beg remission at thy hand. Too well I know, if thou in rigour deal, I can nor pardon ask, nor yet appeal: To my hoarse voice, heaven will no audience grant, But deaf as brass, and hard as adamant 10 Beat back my words; therefore I bring to thee A gracious Advocate to plead for me. What though my leprous soul no Jordan can Recure, nor floods of the lav'd Ocean Make clean? yet from my Saviour's bleeding side Two large and medicinable rivers glide. Lord, wash me where those streams of life abound, And new Bethesdas flow from ev'ry wound. If I this precious lather may obtain, I shall not then despair for any stain; 20 I need no Gilead's balm, nor oil, nor shall I for the purifying hyssop call: My spots will vanish in His purple flood, And crimson there turn white, though wash'd with blood. See, Lord! with broken heart and bended knee, How I address my humble suit to Thee; O give that suit admittance to Thy ears, Which floats to Thee, not in my words, but tears: And let my sinful soul this mercy crave, Before I fall into the silent grave. 30 [_A Penitential Hymn._] This piece is referred to by Anthony Wood as one of several 'anthems'. It was, he tells us, intended for Lenten use, and set by Dr. John Wilson, gentleman of the Chapel Royal. To this Dr. Wilson, Hannah thought that his collated MS. copy of King's _Poems_, which bears the name, had belonged, additional evidence being found in the curious fact that the Hymn appears in that copy out of order, and first.] _An Elegy occasioned by Sickness._ Well did the Prophet ask, _Lord, what is Man?_ Implying by the question none can But God resolve the doubt, much less define What elements this child of dust combine.