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A Sonnet
The prayers I make will then be sweet indeed,
If Thou the Spirit give by which I pray;
My unassisted heart is barren clay,
That of it’s native self can nothing feed;
Of good and pious works Thou are the seed
That quickens only where Thou say’st it may.
Unless Thou show to us Thy own true way,
No man can find it: Father! Thou must lead;
Do Thou then breathe those thoughts into my mind
By which such virtue may in me be bred
That in Thy holy footsteps I may tread;
The fetters of my tongue do Thou unbind.
That I may have the power to sing to Thee,
And sound Thy praises everlastingly!
