Rise with the cock, and clap each flutt'ring wing,
In grateful hymns exultingly rejoice -
Early to God, each Sunday morning, sing
With glowing heart, and with a tuneful voice.

Put on thy best, at least a cleanly dress,
And sanctify thyself - or don't presume
Into the temple of the Lord to press,
Unless prepar'd with decency to come.

Then to the temple, innocently gay,
With all thy family around thee, go
Thy homage to the Lord of hosts to pay ;
As all the saints of old were wont to do.

God, likes with reverence to be ador'd,
Publicly in his courts, with open gates,
Tho' chiefly on the Sabbath of the Lord:
But all clandestine corner-worship hates.

His whole creation God completed quite,
On the sixth day, before it yet was eve;
Do thou thy labour end that very night,
If thou dost in the Christian faith believe.

Be sanctify'd before the seventh day,
All cleanse thy vessel from each sinful stain,
Wash thou thyself in penitence - obey
Thy God - and strive his heart-felt peace to gain.

Before the sabbath comes, thy soul prepare,
And cast each worldly-minded thought away,
That thou may'st do the work of God with care
And proper holiness - whilst yet 'tis day.

Leave thou thy servants and thy cattle rest
From all their toil, upon that sacred day ;
Let, then, no anxious cares torment thy breast,
No active exercise, or wanton play.

To sell provisions, or to bear a load,
To seek amusements, or else idly play,
To work thy trade, or travel on the road,
Are all forbidden on that hallow'd day.

Take heed, lest thou the sabbath shou'dst prophane,
At morn, at noon, or in the ev'ning grey,
But, e'en at home, as if within his fane,
To God thy unrmitted worship pay.

Greater attention, whilst thou breathest, pay,
Upon each sabbath, to the work divine,
Than thou wou'dst give on any other day,
To any worldly care, or task of thine.

It is a thing as requisite to seek
Upon that day, for manna to sustain
The hungry soul - as 'tis throughout the week,
To search for food, thy body to maintain.

Ere yet the dawn has streak'd the eastern skies,
Ere yet the lark has sung her morning lay,
Early, upon that sacred day, arise,
That thou may'st pass it in a pious way.

'Tis not a day, in listless sleep to waste,
'Tis not a day, to lie a-bed supine,
But 'tis a day, by Christians to be past,
In ev'ry act and exercise divine!

'Tis not a day, in sauntring to be past,
In drunkenness, or to some bad intent,
But 'tis a day, which, long as it does last,
Shou'd be in holy works entirely spent.

A day - which in devotion we shou'd spend -
A day - to do the business of the Lord -
A day - we shou'd in pray'r and reading end -
A day - whereon our God shou'd be ador'd -

A day - from ev'ry worldly work to rest -
A day - to deeds of holiness assign'd -
A day - to that is beyond all others blest -
And not a day - for idleness design'd.

Though God commands us all to keep that day
Holy - and thinks therein to be obey'd:
Yet less attention most of us ne'er pay
To any precept, than to that we've paid.

Of all the days, throughout the rolling year,
There's not a day we pass so much amiss -
There's not a day, whereon we all appear
So irreligious, so profane, as this!

A day, for drunkenness - a day, for sport -
A day, to dance - a day, to lounge away,
A day, for riot and excess too short,
Amongst the Welshmen, is the sabbath-day.

A day, to sit - a day, in chat to spend -
A day, when fighting 'mongst us most prevails -
A day, to do the errands of the fiend -
Such is the sabbath in most parts of Wales!

The very day, which we shou'd most revere,
We, to defile it, still seem most inclin'd,
To the dishonour of our Saviour dear,
And to the grief of ev'ry pious mind.

From early morn, unto the evn'ning gray,
Be still on thy religious task intent,
And let no portion of thy Saviour's day
Be, in the Devil's work or worship, spent.

Remember still to keep the sabbath day,
And keep it holy, with a pious mind;
For he that spends it in an idle way,
Will ne'er regard, whatever he's enjoin'd.

Whether at church, at home, or if abroad,
Observe the sabbath, thou and all thy race,
And make thy family adore their God
As well at home, as in his holy place.

Three sorts of works, a man may safely do
Upon the seventh day, and not transgress -
The work of love - the work we're forc'd unto -
And the still pleasing work of holiness.

The work of holiness, a man then does,
To hear God's word and his due homage pay,
When, to the temple of the Lord, he goes;
However bad the road, or far the way.

The work of love, or charity is show'd,
When man or beasts from certain death restrain'd -
When beasts are fodder'd with sufficient food,
And when the poor and needy are maintain'd.

Those we, as necessary works, admit,
Which none could at another time require -
Such as to save a beast, fall'n to a pit,
A wife in labour, or a house on fire.

Worse than bad air, is an associate vile.
Take heed all evil company to shun -
'Tis a rank pest - 'tis pitch, and will defile
All those - nay, e'en the best, that to it run.