here despair to please my mind Her sweetest Honey is so mix'd with Gall. Come then I ll try how 't is to be alone Live to my self a while and be my own II. I 've try'd and bless the happy change So happy I could almost vow Never from this Retreat to range For sure I nor can be so blest as now From all th' allays of bliss I here am free I pitty others and none envy me III. Here in this shady lonely Grove I sweetly think my hours away Neither with Business vex'd nor Love Which in the World bear such Tyrannic sway No Tumults can my close Apartment find Calm as those Seats above which know no Storm nor Wind. IV. Let Plots and News embroil the State Pray what 's that to my Books and Me Whatever be the Kingdom 's Fate Here I am sure t' enjoy a Monarchy Lord of my self accountable to none Like the first Man in Paradice alone V. While the Ambitious vainly sue And of the partial Stars complain I stand upon the Shore and view The mighty Labours of the distant Maâ—n I 'm flush'd with silent joy and smile to see The Shafts of Fortune still drop short of me VI. Th' uneasie Pageantry of State And all the plagues to Thought and Sense Are far remov'd I 'm plac'd by Fate Out of the Road of all Impertinence Thus tho my fleeting Life runs swiftly on 'T will not be short because 't is all my own The Infidel I. FArewel Fruition thou grand Cruel Cheat Which first our hopes dost raise and then defeat Farewel thou Midwife to Abortive Bliss Thou Mystery of fallacies Distance presents the Object fair With Charming features and a graceful air But when we come to seize th' inviting prey Like a Shy Ghost it vanishes away II. So to th' unthinking Boy the distant Sky Seems on some Mountain's Surface to relie He with ambitious haste climbs the ascent Curious to touch the Firmament But when with an unweari'd pace Arriv'd he is at the long-wish'd-for place With Sighs the sad defeat he does deplore His Heaven is still as distant as before III. And yet 't was long e're I could throughly see This grand Impostor's frequent Treachery Tho often Fool'd yet I should still dream on Of Pleasure in Reversion Tho still he did my hopes deceive His fair Pretensions I would still believe Such was my Charity that tho I knew And found him false yet I would think him true IV. But now he shall no more with shews deceive I will no more enjoy no more believe Th' unwary Jugler has so often shewn His Fallacies that now they 'r known Shall I trust on the Cheat is plain I will not be impos'd upon again I 'll view the Bright appearance from afar But never try to catch the falling Star. On a Musician supposed to be mad with Musick I. POOR dull mistake of low Mortality To call that Madness which is Ecstacy 'T is no disorder of the Brain His Soul is only set t' an higher strain Out-soar he does the Sphere of Common sense Rais'd to Diviner Excellence But when at highest pitch his Soul out-flies Not Reason's Bounds but those of vulgar Eyes II. So when the Mystic Sibyl's Sacred Breast Was with Divine Infusions possest 'T was Rage and Madness thought to be Which was all Oracle and Mystery And so the Soul that 's shortly to Commence A Spirit free from dregs of Sense Is thought to rave when She discourses high And breathes the lofty strains of Immortality III. Music thou Generous Ferment of the Soul Thou universal Cement of the whole Thou Spring of Passion that dost inspire Religious Ardours and Poetic Fire who 'd think that Madness should b' ascrib'd to thee That mighty Discord to thy Harmony But 't was such ignorance that call'd the Gift Divine Of various Tongues Rage and th' effects of Wine IV. But thou Seraphic Soul do thou advance In thy sweet Ecstacy thy pleasing Trance Let thy brisk passions mount still higher Till they joyn to the Element of Fire Soar higher yet till thou shalt calmly hear The Music of a well-tun'd Sphere Then on the lumpish mass look down and thou shalt know The Madness of the World for groveling still below The Consolation I. I Grant 't is bad but there is some relief In the Society of Grief 'T is sweet to him that mourns to see A whole house clad in Sorrow's Livery Grief in Communion does remiss appear Like harsher sounds in Consort which less grate the Ear. II. Men would not Curse the Stars did they dispence In common their ill Influence Let none be rich and Poverty Would not be thought so great a Misery Our discontent is from comparison Were better states unseen each man would like his own III. Should partial Seas wreck my poor Ship alone I might with cause my Fate bemoan But since before I sink I see A Numerous Fleet of Ships descend with me Why don't I with content my breath resign I will and in the greater ruine bury mine The Choice Stet quicunque volet potens Aulae culmine lubrico c. I. NO I shan't envy him whoe're he be That stands upon the Battlements of State Stand there who will for me I 'd rather be secure than great Of being so high the pleasure is but small But long the Ruine if I chance to fall II. Let me in some sweet shade serenely lye Happy in leisure and obscurity Whilst others place their joys In popularity and noise Let my soft minutes glide obscurely on Like subterraneous streams unheard unknown III. Thus when my days are all in silence past A good plain Country-man I 'll dye at last Death cannot chuse but be To him a mighty misery Who to the World was popularly known And dies a Stranger to himself alone The Meditation I. IT must be done my Soul but 't is a strange A dismal and Mysterious Change When thou shalt leave this Tenement of Clay And to an unknown somewhere Wing away When Time shall be Eternity and thou Shalt be thou know'st not what and live thou know'st not how II. Amazing State no wonder that we dread To think of Death or view the Dead Thou' rt all wrapt up in Clouds as if to thee Our very Knowledge had Antipathy Death could not a more Sad Retinue find Sickness and Pain before and Darkness all behind III. Some Courteous Ghost tell this great Secrecy What 't is you are and we must be You warn us of approaching Death and why May we not know from you what 't is to Dye But you having shot the Gulph delight to see Succeeding Souls plunge in with like uncertainty IV. When Life 's close Knot by Writ from Destiny Disease shall cut or Age unty When after some Delays some dying Strife The Soul stands shivering on the Ridge of Life With what a dreadful Curiosity Does she launch out into the Sea of vast Eternity V. So when the Spatious Globe was delug'd o're And
can make Menalcas does his kids and tender lambs forsake So I when slave to Galatea's eyes Did neither City nor the Country prize But all their sports and my flock too despise Hang thou my Pipe sayd I on yonder tree For then alas I had no tast for melody Obscurely in thick woods I sate alone And sigh'd in consort to the Turtle 's moan Men. 'T is not fond love that causes my distress No Thyrsis you 'r mistaken in your guess The glorious Prize I have in Triumph born I am no longer now Alexis scorn Or if I were I now could be unmoved At every scornful glance nor care where e're he loved A nearer grief preys on my spirits now And I beneath a heavier burthen bow The gentle god of the Arcadian plains Pan that regards the sheep Pan that regards the Swains Great Pan is dead Throughout the fields the doleful tidings ran A swoon seiz'd all the Shepherds at the death of Pan. Of Pan But see the rest that Tree will shew Which wears the sad inscription of my woe Where with the bark my sorrows too will grow Thyr. How Shepherd is it by Fames trumpet said That Pan the best of all the gods is dead Whom oft w'adored and whom because we knew As good as they we thought him as immortal too 'T is strange but Omens now I find are true In yonder Copse a shady Oak there stood Stately well rooted and it self a wood Her branches o're the inferiour trees were spread Who all adored her as their soveraign head Hither when heated by the guide of Day While their young wanton goats did skip amd play Hither the Swains would constantly repair Here sing and in the ample shade drink fresher air This Tree when I my goats to pasture drove While all was clear above and still throughout the grove Struck by some secret force fall down I saw The wood-Nymphs all were seiz'd with wonder grief awe Nor had I left this ruin far behind When lo strange sight a Nightingal I find Which from brisk airs enlivening all the grove Coo'd on a suddain like the mournful dove Amazed I stand and on my pipe estay With some brisk song her sorrows to allay But all in vain She from the lofty tree Kept on her sad complaint and mourn'd and droop'd like thee Men. And why these slighter things dost thou relate Nature her self perceiv'd Pan's mighty fate She fainted when he drew his latest breath And almost sympathized with him to death Each Field put on a languid dying face The sheep not minding food with tears bedew'd the grass The Lions too in tears their grief confest And savage Bears ê‘an's enemys profest The Nymphs all wept and all the noble train Of Deitys that frequent the Court of Pan. Eccho that long by nought but voice was known In sounds repeated others woes but wept her own Th' Arcadians mourn'd and press'd beneath the weighty care With cruelty they charg'd the gods and every star Thyr. And well they might Heaven could not shew a Deity More mild more good t' his Votarys than he He was all Love all Peace all Clemency H' allur'd the Love and melted down the hate Of all he had no enemy but Fate Pan kept the Fields from wolves secured the Stall He guarded both the humble Shrubs and Cedars tall The Summers heat obey'd Pan's gentle hand And Winter winds blew soft at his command He blest the Swains with sneep and fruitful made their land Weep Shepherds and in pomp your grief express The ground with flowers your selves with Cypress dress Let the Arcadians in a solemn train March slowly on let mournful accents fill the plain Do this at least in Memory of Pan. Daph. But why this vain expence of tears breath D' ye think Pan lost and swallow'd up in death He lives and with a pleas'd and wondring eye Contemplates the new beautys of the sky Whence on these Fields he casts propitious rays Now greater than our Sorrow greater than our Praise I saw for why mayn't I rehearse the sight Just as the Stars were kindled by the Queen of night Another new-made milky way appear I saw and wonder'd what event it might prepare When lo great Pan amazed my trembling sight As through th' Aethereal plains he took his flight Deck'd round with rays and darting streams of light Triumphant was his March a sacred throng Of gods inclosed him Pan was all their song The sky still brighten'd as they went along Men. Thy vision be all truth But who shall now the royal sheep-crook hold Who patronize the fields who now secure the fold Daoh Discharge that care the royal stock does yield Another Pan to patronize the field An Heir of equal conduct does the Scepter sway One who long nurtured in the Pastoral way In peace will govern the Arcadian plains Defend the tender flocks and chear the drooping Swains Thyr. Come then let 's tune the pipe t' a brisker Key Let 's with a dance our sorrows chase away And to new Pan in sports devote the day Satiety I. HAst on dull Time thy winged minutes hast I care not now how soon thou bring'st my last By what I 've liv'd I plainly know The total Sum of all below The days to come altho they promise more I know will be as false as those that went before II. The best of life tho once enjoy'd is vain And why ye Powers the self same o're again The Comedy's so dull I fear 'T will not a second acting bear No I 've enough I cannot like the Sun Each day the self same stage and still unwearied run III. What cruel laws are these that me confine Thus still to dig in a deceitful Mine Be just ye Powers my Soul set free Give her her native liberty 'T is ' gainst the Stage's law to force my stay I 've seen an Act or two and do not like the Play. The Reply I. SInce you desire of me to know Who 's the Wise man I 'll tell you who Not he whose rich and fertile mind Is by the Culture of the Arts refin'd Who has the Chaos of disorder'd thought By Reason's Light to Form and method brought Who with a clear and piercing sight Can see through nicetys as dark as night You err if you think this is He Tho seated on the top of the Porphyrian tree II. Nor is it He to whom kind Heaven A secret Cabala has given T' unriddle the mysterious Text Of Nature with dark Comments more perplext Or to decypher her clean-writ and fair But most confounding puzling character That can through all her windings trace This slippery wanderer and unveil her face Her inmost Mechanism view Anatomize each part and see her through and through III. Nor he that does the Science know Our only Certainty below That can from Problems dark and nice Deduce Truths worthy of a Sacrifice Nor he that can confess the stars and see What 's writ in the black leaves of Destiny
That knows their laws and how the Sun His dayly and his annual stage does run As if he did to them dispense Their Motions and there sate supream Intelligence IV. Nor is it he altho he boast Of wisdom and seem wise to most Yet 't is not he whose busy pate Can dive into the deep intrigues of State. That can the great Leviathan controul Menage and rule 't as if he were its soul The wisest King thus gifted was And yet did not in these true Wisdom place Who then is by the Wise man meant He that can want all this and yet can be content My Estate I. HOw do I pity that proud wealthy Clown That does with scorn on my low state look down Thy vain contempt dull Earth-worm cease I won't for refuge-fly to this That none of fortune's Blessings can Add any value to the man This all the wise acknowledge to be true But know I am as rich more rich than you II. While you a spot of earth possess with care Below the notice of the Geographer I by the freedom of my Soul Possess nay more enjoy the whole To th' universe a claim I lay Your writings shew perhaps you 'l say That 's your dull way my title runs more high 'T is by the Charter of Philosophy III. From that a firmer title I derive Than all your Courts of Law could ever give A title that more firm does stand Than does even your very Land. And yet so generous and free That none will e're bethink it me Since my possessions tend to no man's loss I all enjoy yet nothing I ingross IV. Throughout the works divine I cast my eye Admire their Beauty and their Harmony I view the glorious Host above And him that made them Praise and Love. The flowry meads and fields beneath Delight me with their odorous breath Thus is my joy by you not understood Like that of God when he said all was good V. Nay what you 'd think less likely to be true I can enjoy what 's yours much more than you Your meadow's beauty I survey Which you prize only for its hay There can I sit beneath a tree And write an Ode or Elegy What to you care does to me pleasure bring You own the Cage I in it sit and sing The Conquest I. IN Power or Wisdom to contend with thee Great God who but a Lucifer would dare Our strength is but infirmity And when we this perceive our sight 's most clear But yet I will not be excell'd thought I In Love in Love I 'll with my Maker vy II. I view'd the glorys of thy Seat above And thought of every Grace and Charm divine And further to encrease my love I measured all the Heights and Depths of thine Thus there broke forth a Strong and Vigorous flame And almost melted down my mortal frame III. But when thy Bloudy Sweat and Death I view I own Dear Lord the conquest of thy love Thou dost my highest flights outdo I in a lower orb and slower move Thus in this strife's a double weakness shewn Thy Love I cannot equal nor yet bear my own The Impatient I. WHat envious laws are those of Fate Which fix a gulph Blest Souls 'twixt us and you How 't wou'd refresh and chear our Mortal state When our dejected looks confess The emptiness of earthly bliss Could we in this black night your brighter glorys view II. Vain comfort when I thus complain To hear the Wise and Solemn gravely say Your grief and curiosity restrain Death will e're long this Bar remove And bring you to the Blest above Till then with this great Prospect all your longings stay III. But ah the joy peculiar here Does from the greater excellence arise 'T will be worth nothing in an equal Sphere Let me your noble converse have Blest Spirits on this side the grave I shall hereafter be as great as you as wise IV. Besides when plung'd in bliss divine I shall not tast or need this lesser joy What comfort then does from this Prospect shine 'T is just as if in depth of night You robb a Traveller of his light And promise to restore't when 't is clear day Content I. I Bless my stars I envy none Not great nor wealthy no nor yet the Wise I 've learnt the Art to like my own And what I can't attain to not to prize Vast Tracts of Learning I descry Beyond the Sphere perhaps of my Activity And yet I 'm ne're the more concern'd at this Than for the Gems that lye in the profound Abyss II. Should I my proper lot disdain As long as further good eclipses mine I may t' eternity complain And in the Mansions of the Blest repine There shall I numbers vast espy Of Forms more excellent more wise more Blest than I. I shall not then lament my unequal fate And why should larger Prospects now molest my state III. Where all in equal stations move What place for Harmony can there be found The lower Spheres with those above Agree and dance as free and briskly round Degrees of Essences conspire As well as various notes t' accomplish heaven's Quire. Thus would I have 't below nor will I care So the Result be Harmony what part I bear Against Knowledge I. WEll let it be the Censure of the Wise That Wisdom none but Fools despise I like not what they gravely preach And must another Doctrin teach Since all 's so false and vain below There 's nought so indiscreet as this to know II. The thoughtless dull and less discerning mind No flaws in earthly joys can find He Closes with what Courts his sight All Coin will pass by his dim light Though often baulkt he hopes for rest Sleeps on and dreams and is in Errour Blest III. But he that has refin'd and high-rais'd sense Can nothing tast but excellence Nor can he nature's faults supply By Fancy's happy Imag'ry He sees that all Fruition's vain Can't tast the present nor yet trust again IV. Our Joys like Tricks do all on cheats depend And when once known are at an end Happy and Wise two Blessings are Which meet not in this mortal Sphere Let me be ignorant below And when I 've Solid good then let me Know. Seeing a great Person lying in State. I. WEll now I needs must own That I hate greatness more and more 'T is now a just abhorrence grown What was Antipathy before With other ills I could dispence And acquiesce in Providence But let not Heaven my patience try With this one Plague left I repine and dye II. I knew indeed before That 't was the great man's wretched fate While with the living to endure The vain impertinence of State. But sure thought I in death he 'll be From that and other troubles free What e're his life he then will lye As free as undisturb'd as calm as I. III. But 't was a gross mistake Honour that too officious ill Won't even his breathless corps forsake But
Another Spring of tears begins to flow A barbarous hand wounds his now senseless side And death that ends the Son 's renews the Mother's woe XII She sees now by the rude inhuman stroke The Mystic river flow and in her breast Wonders by what strange figure th' Angel spoke When amongst all the Daughters he pronounc'd her Blest XIII Thus far did Nature pity grief and love And all the Passions their strong efforts try But still tho dark below 't was clear above She had as once her Son her strengthning Angel by XIV Gabriel the chiefest of th' Almighty's train That first with happy tidings blest her ear Th' Archangel Gabriel was sent again To stem the tide of grief and qualify her fear XV. A large Perspective wrought by hands divine He set before her first enlightned eye ' 'T was hewn out of the heaven Christalline One of whose ends did lessen th' other magnify XVI With that his sufferings he exposed to sight With this his Glorys he did represent The weight of this made th' other seem but light She saw the mighty odds adored and was content Damon and Pythias Or Friendship in perfection Pyth. I. 'T Is true my Damon we as yet have been Patterns of constant love I know We have stuck so close no third could come between But will it Damon will it still be so Da. II. Keep your love true I dare engage that mine Shall like my Soul immortal prove In friendship's Orb how brightly shall we shine Where all shall envy none divide our love Pyth. III. Death will when once as 't is by fate design'd T' Elysium you shall be remov'd Such sweet Companions there no doubt you 'l find That you 'l forget that Pythias e're you lov'd Da. IV. No banish all such fears I then will be Your Friend and guardian Angel too And tho with more refined Society I 'l leave Elysium to converse with you Pyth. V. But grant that after fate you still are kind You cannot long continue so When I like you become all thought and mind By what mark then shall we each other know Da. VI. With care on your last hour I will attend And lest like Souls should me deceive I closely will embrace my new-born friend And never after my dear Pythias leave The Indifferency I. WHether 't is from stupidity or no I know not but I ne'r could find Why I one Thought or Passion should bestow On Fame that gaudy Idol of mankind Call me not Stoic no I can pursue Things excellent with as much zeal as you But here I own my self to be A very luke-warm Votary II. Should thousand excellencys in me meet And one bright Constellation frame 'T is still as men's phantastic humours hit Whether I 'm written in the book of Fame So tho the Sun be ne're so fair and bright And shine with free uninterrupted light 'T is as the Clouds disposed are E're he can paint his image there III. The world is seldom to true merit just Through Envy or through Ignorance True worth like Valour oft lies hid in dust While some false Hero's graced with a Romance The true God's Altar oft neglected lies When Idols have Perfumes and Sacrifice And tho the true one some adore Yet those that do blaspheme are more IV. Yet grant that merit were of fame secure What 's Reputation what is Praise who 'd one day's toil or sleepless night endure Such a vain Babel of esteem to raise Pleas'd with his hidden worth the great and wise Can like his God this forreign good despise Whose happiness would ne're be less Tho none were made to praise oâ— bless V. Even I who dare not rank my self with those Who pleas'd into themselves retire Find yet in great Applauses less repose And do Fame less less than my self admire Let her loud trumpet sound me far and near Th' Antipodes will never of me hear Or were I known throughout this ball I've but a Point when I have All. VI. Then as for glory which comes after Fate All that can then of me be said I value least of all it comes too late 'T is like th' embalming of the sensless dead Others with pleasure what me labour cost May read and praise but to me all is lost Just as the Sun no joy does find In that his light which chears mankind VII Or should I after Fate has closed my eyes Should I my living glorys know My wiser improved Soul will then despise All that poor Mortals say or think below Even they who of mens ignorance before Complain'd because few did their works adore Will then the self same Censure raise Not from their silence but their praise VIII Or grant 't wou'd pleasure bring to know that I After my death live still in Fame Those that admire me too must shortly dye And then where 's my Memorial where my name My Fame tho longer-lived yet once shall have Like me its Death its Funeral its Grave This only difference will remain I shall that never rise again IX Death and Destruction shall e're long deface The World the work of hands divine What Pillars then or Monuments of brass Shall from the general ruin rescue mine All then shall equal be I care not then To be a while the talk and boast of men This only grant that I may be Prais'd by thy Angels Lord and thee The Infirmity I. IN other things I ne'r admired to see Men injured by extremity But little thought in Happiness There might be danger of excess At least I thought there was no fear Of ever meeting with too much on 't here II. But now these melting sounds strike on my sense With such a powerful excellence I find that Happiness may be Screw'd up to such extremity That our too Feeble facultys May not be said t' enjoy but suffer Bliss III. So frail 's our mortal state we can sustain A mighty bliss no more than pain We lose our weak precarious breath Tortured or tickled unto death As sprights and Angels alike fright With too much Horrour or with too much light IV. Alas I 'm over-pleas'd what shall I do The painful joy to undergo Temper your too melodious song Your dose of bliss is much too strong Like those that too rich Cordials have It don't so much revive as make me rave V. What Cruelty 't wou'd be still to confine A mortal ear to Airs divine The Curse of Cain you have on me Inverted by your Harmony For since with that you charm'd my ear My Bliss is much too great for me to bear VI. Relieve this Paroxysm of delight And let it be less exquisite Let down my Soul 't is too high set I am not ripe for Heaven yet Give me a Region more beneath This Element's too fine for me to breath The Arrest I. WHither so fast fond Passion dost thou rove Licentious and unconfined Sure this is not the proper Sphere of Love Obey and be not deaf as thou
art blind All is so false and treacherous here That I must love with Caution and enjoy with fear II. Contract thy Sails lest a too gusty blast Make thee from shore launch out too far Weigh well this Ocean e're thou make such hast It has a nature very singular Men of the treacherous shore complain In other Seas but here most danger 's in the Main III. Should'st thou my Soul indulge thy forward love And not controul its headlong course The Object in th' enjoyment vain will prove And thou on Nothing fall with all thy force So th' eager Hawk makes sure of 's prize Strikes with full might but overshoots himself and dyes IV. Or should'st thou with long search on something light That might content and stay thy mind All good 's here wing'd and stands prepared for flight 'T will leave thee reaching out in vain behind Then when unconstant fate thou 'st proved Thou 'lt sigh and say with tears I wish I ne re had loved V. Well then ye softer Powers that love Command And wound our breasts with pleasing smart Gage well your Launce and bear a steddy hand Lest it run in too deep into my heart Or if you 're fix'd in your design Deeply to wound my heart wound it with love divine To the Memory of my dear Neece M. C. I. BY tears to ease my grief I 've try'd And Philosophic med'cins have applied From Books and Company I 've sought relief I 've used all spells and charms of Art To Lay this Troubler of my heart I have yet I 'm still haunted by my grief These give some ease but yet I find 'T is Poetry at last must cure my mind II. Come then t' asswage my pain I 'l try By the sweet magic of thy Harmony Begin my Muse but 't will be hard I know For thee my Genius to screw To heights that to my Theme are due The weight of grief has set my Soul so low To grace her death my strains should be As far above Mortality as she III. Is she then dead and can it be That I can live to write her Elegy I hoped since 't was not to my Soul deny'd To sympathize in all the pain Which she tho long did well sustain T' have carry'd on the sympathy and dy'd But Death was so o'rpleas'd I see At this rich spoil that she neglected me IV. Yet has sh ' of all things made me bare But Life nor was it kindness here to spare So when th' Almighty would t' inform mankind His Eastern Hero's patience try With the Extreams of misery He gave this Charge to the malicious Fiend Of all Life's Blessings him deprive Vex him with all thy Plagues but let him live V. Yet I will live sweet Soul to save Thy name since thee I cannot from the grave I will not of this burthen Life complain Tho tears than verses faster flow Tho I am plung'd in grief and woe And like th' inspired Sibylls write in pain To dye for Friends is thought to be Heroic but I 'll Life endure for thee VI. 'T is just since I in thee did live That thou should'st Life and Fame from me receive But how shall I this Debt of Justice pay The Colours of my Poetry Are all too dead to Copy thee 'T will be Abuse the best that I can say Nature that wrought thy curious frame Will find it hard to draw again the same VII In Council the Almighty sate When he did man his Master-piece create His Agent Nature did the same for thee In making thee she wrought for Fame And with slow progress drew thy frame As he that painted for Eternity In her best Mould she did thee cast But thou wast over-wrought and made too fine to last VIII Thy Soul the Saint of this fair Shrine Was pure without Alloy and all divine Active and nimble as Aethereal light Kind as the Angels are above Who live on Harmony and Love The Rays thou shott'st were warm as well as bright So mild so pleasing was thy fire That none could envy and all must admire IX Sickness to whose strong siege resign The best of natures did but set forth thine Wisely thou did'st thy passions all Controul And like a Martyr in the fire Devout and patient did'st expire Pains could expel but not untune thy Soul. Thou bore'st them all so Moderately As if thou mean'st to teach how I should mourn for thee X. No wonder such a noble mind Her way again to Heaven so soon could find Angels as 't is but seldom they appear So neither do they make long stay They do but visit and away T is pain for them t' endure our too gross Sphere We could not hope for a Reprieve She must dye soon that made such hast to live XI Heaven did thy lovely presence want And therefore did so early thee transplant Not'cause he dar'd not trust thee longer here No such sweet Innocence as thine To take a Stain was too divine But sure he Coveted to have thee there For meaner Souls he could delay Impatient for thine he would not stay XII The Angels too did covet thee T' advance their Love their Bliss their Harmony They 'd lately made an Anthem to their King An Anthem which contain'd a part All sweet and full of Heavenly Art Which none but thy Harmonious Soul could sing 'T was all Heaven's Vote thou should'st be gone To fill th' Almighty's Quire and to adorn his Throne XIII Others when gone t' eternal rest Are said t' augment the number of the Blest Thou dost their very Happiness improve Out of the Croud they single thee Fond of thy sweet society Thou wast our Darling and art so above Why should we of thy loss Complain Which is not only thine but Heaven's gain XIV There dost thou sit in Bliss and light Whilest I thy praise in mournful numbers write There dost thou drink at pleasures virgin Spring And find'st no leisure in thy Bliss Ought to admire below but this How I can mourn when thou dost Anthems sing Thy pardon my sweet Saint I implore My Soul ne'r disconform'd from thine before XV. Nor will I now My tears shall flow No more I will be blest ' cause thou art so I 'll borrow Comfort from thy happy state In Bliss I 'll sympathize with thee As once I did in misery And by Reflection will be Fortunate I 'll practise now what 's done above And by thy happy state my own improve The Resignation I. LOng have I view'd long have I thought And held with trembling hand this bitter Draught 'T was now just to my lips applied Nature shrank in and all my Courage dy'd But now Resolv'd and firm I 'll be Since Lord 't is mingled and reach'd out by thee II. I 'll trust my great Physitian 's skill I know what he prescribes can ne'r be ill To each disease he knows what 's fit I own him wise and good and do submit I 'll now no longer grieve
is what I design'd and endeavour'd in the whole Whether I have attain'd it or no I submit to Judgment All-Souls Coll. June 1st 1687. J. Norris THE CONTENTS OF THE PROSE-PART Of the advantages of Thinking Page 145. Of the Care and Improvement of Time. 153. Of Solitude 158. Of Courage 165. Of Seriousness 170. Of the slightness of all Secular and the importance of minding our Eternal Interest 175. A Metaphysical Essay toward the Demonstration of a God from the steddy and immutable Nature of Truth 193. The Christian Law Asserted and Vindicated Or a general Apology for the Christian Religion both as to the Obligativeness and Reasonableness of the Institution 211. A Discourse concerning Perseverance in Holiness 249. A Discourse coucerning Heroic Piety wherein its Notion is stated and its Practise recommended 275. Contemplation and Love Or the Methodical Ascent of the Soul to God by steps of Meditation 295. A Discourse upon Romans 12. 3. Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think But to think soberly according as God has dealt to every man the measure of Faith. 333. Considerations upon the Nature of Sin accommodated to the Ends both of Speculation and Practise 361. An Idea of Happiness in a Letter to a Friend Enquiring wherein the greatest Happiness attainable by man in this Life does consist 393. A Letter of Resolution concerning some Passages in the foregoing Treatise 431. Another Letter concerning the true Notion of Plato's Ideas and of Platonic Love. 435. A Letter concerning Love and Music 446. A Letter concerning Friendship 450. A Letter of Self-Consolation occasion'd by the Death of a Friend 455. ERRATA Page 164. for ingeniously read ingenuously Page 170. for gaiety read gait Page 281. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Passion of our B. Saviour represented in a Pindarique Ode Quis talia fando Temperet à Lachrymis I. SAY bold Licentious Muse What Noble Subject wilt thou chuse Of what great Hero of what mighty thing Wilt thou in boundless numbers sing Sing the unfathom'd Depths of Love For who the Wonders done by Love can tell By Love which is it self all Miracle Here in vast endless Circles mayst thou rove And like the travelling Planet of the day In an Orb unbounded stray Sing the great Miracle of Love Divine Great be thy Genius sparkling every Line Love's greatest Mystery reherse Greater then that Which on the teeâ—ing Chaos brooding sate And hatch'd with kindly heat the Universe How God in Mercy chose to bleed and dye To rescue Man from Misery Man not his Creature only but his Enemy II. Lo in Gethsemane I see him prostrate lye Press'd with the weight of his great Agony The common Sluces of the Eyes To vent his mighty Passion won't suffice His tortured Body weeps all-o're And out of every Pore Buds forth a pretious Gem of Purple Gore How strange the Power of afflictions rod When in the Hand of an incensed God! Like the commanding Wand In Moses Hand It works a Miracle and turns the Flood Of Tears into a Sea of Blood See with what Pomp Sorrow does now appear How proud She is of being seated here She never wore So rich a Dye before Long was he willing to decline Th' Encounter of the Wrath Divine Thrice he sent for his Release Pathetic Embassies of Peace At length his Courage overcame his Doubt Resolved he was and so the bloody Flagg hung out III. And now the Tragic Scene 's displai'd Where drawn in full Battalia are laid Before his Eyes That numerous Host of Miseries He must withstand that Map of Woe Which he must undergo That heavy Wine-press which must by him be trod The whole Artillery of God. He saw that Face whose very Sight Chears Angels with its Beatific Light Contracted now into a dreadful frown All cloath'd with Thunder big with death And Showers of hot burning Wrath Which shortly must be poured down He saw a black and dismal Scroll Of Sins past present and to come With their intolerable Doom Which would the more oppress his spotless Soul As th' Elements are weighty proved When from their Native Station they 'r removed He saw the foul Ingratitude of those Who would the Labours of his Love oppose And reap no benefit by all his Agonys He saw all this And as he saw to Waver he began And almost to repent of his great Love for Man. IV. When lo a heavenly Form all bright and fair Swifter then Thought shot through th' enlight'ned Air. He who sat next th' imperial Throne And read the Councels of the Great Three-One Who in Eternity's Misterious Glass Saw both what was what is and what must come to pass He came with Reverence profound And rais'd his prostrate Maker from the Ground Wiped off the bloody Sweat With which his Face and Garments too were wet And comforted his dark benighted Mind With sovereign Cordials of Light refin'd This done in soft addresses he began To fortifie his kind Designs for Man Vnseal'd to him the Book of Gods Decree And shew'd him what must be Alledg'd the Truth of Prophecies Types Figures and Mysteries How needful it was to supply With humane Race the ruins of the Skie How this would new accession bring To the Coelestial Quire And how withall it would inspire New Matter for the Praise of the great King. How he should see the travail of his Soul and bless Those Sufferings which had so good Success How great the Triumphs of his Victory How glorious his Ascent would be What weighty Bliss in Heaven he should obtain By a few Hours of Pain Where to Eternal Ages he should Reign He spake confirm'd in mind the Champion stood A Spirit divine Through the thick Veil of Flesh did shine All over Powerful he was all over Good. Pleas'd with his successful Flight The Officious Angel posts away To the bright Regions of Eternal Day Departing in a track of Light. In haste for News the heavenly People ran And joy'd to hear the hopeful State of Man. V. And now that strange prodigious hour When God must subject be to humane Power That Hour is come The unerring Clock of Fate has struck 'T was heard below down to Hells lowest Room And strait th Infernal Powers th appointed signal took Open the Scene my Muse and see Wonders of Impudence and Villany How wicked Mercenary hands Dare to invade him whom they should adore With Swords and Staves incompass'd round he stands Who knew no other Guards but those of Heaven before Once with his powerful breath he did repell The rude assaults of Hell. A ray of his Divinity Shot forth with that bold Answer I am He They reel and stagger and fall to the Ground For God was in the Sound The Voice of God was once again Walking in the Garden heard And once again was by the guilty Hearers fear'd Trembling seiz'd every joynt and chilness every Vein This little Victory he won Shew'd what he could
haunts and waits about him still Strange persecution when the grave Can't the distressed Martyr save What Remedy can there avail Where Death the great Catholicon does fail IV. Thanks to my stars that I Am with so low a fortune blest That what e're Blessings fate deny I 'm sure of privacy and rest 'T is well thus long I am content And rest as in my Element Then Fate if you 'l appear my friend Force me not ' gainst my nature to ascend V. No I would still be low Or else I would be very high Beyond the state which mortals know A kind of Semi-deity So of the Regions of the air The High'st and Lowest quiet are But 't is this middle Height I fear For storms and thunder are ingender'd there Second Chap. of the Cant. from the 10. verse to the 13. I. 'T Was my Beloved spake I know his charming voice I heard him say Rise up my Love my fairest one awake Awake and come away II. The Winter all is past And stormy winds that with such rudeness blew The heavens are no longer overcast But try to look like you III. The flowers their sweets display The Birds in short praeludiums tune their throat The Turtle in low murmurs does essay Her melancholy note IV. The fruitful Vineyards make An odorous smell the Fig looks fresh and gay Arise my Love my fairest one awake Awake and come away To a Friend in Honour I. SOme thoughtless heads perhaps admire to see That I so little to your titles bow But wonder not my Friend I swear to me You were as great before as now Honour to you does nothing give Tho from your worth much lustre she receive II. Your native glory does so far outdo That of the Sphere wherein you move That I can nothing but your self in you Observe admire esteem or love You are a Diamond set in gold The Curious the rich stone not this behold III. All that to your late honour you can owe Is only that you 're brought in view You don't begin to have but men to know Your Votarys are increas'd not you So the Sun's height adds not t' his light But only does expose him more to sight IV. To some whose native worth more dimly shin'd Honour might some improvement give As metals which the Sun has less refined A value from their Stamp receive But you like gold pass for no more Tho Stamp'd than for your weight you wou'd before A divine Hymn on the Creation I. AWake my Lyre and thy sweet forces joyn With me to sing an Hymn divine Let both our Strains in pleasing numbers flow But see thy strings with tediousness and pain Arise into a tuneful strain How can'st thou silently The universe is Harmony Awake and move by sympathy My heart 's already tuned O why art thou so slow II. Jehovah is our Theme th' eternal King Whose Praise admiring Angels sing They see with steddy and attentive eyes His naked Beautys and from Vision raise To wondrous heights their Love and Praise We mortals only view His Back-parts and that darkly too We must fall short what shall we do But neither too can they up to his grandeur rise III. No power can justly praise him but must be As great as infinite as he He comprehends his boundless self alone Created minds too shallow are and dim His works to fathom much more him Our Praise at height will be Short by a whole Infinity Of his all glorious Deity He cannot have the full and stands in need of none IV. He can't be less nor can he more receive But stands one fix'd Superlative He 's in himself compendiously blest We acted by the weights of strong desire To good without our selves aspire We 're always moving hence Like lines from the Circumference To some more in-lodg'd excellence But he is one unmov'd self-center'd Point of Rest V. Why then if full of bliss that ne're could cloy Would he do ought but still enjoy Why not indulge his self-sufficing state Live to himself at large calm and secure A wise eternal Epicure Why six days work to frame A monument of Praise and Fame To him whose bliss is still the same What need the wealthy coyne or he that 's Blest Create VI. Almighty Love the fairest gem that shone All-round and half made up his throne His Favorite and darling excellence Whom oft he would his Royal vertue stile And view with a peculiar smile Love moved him to create Beings that might participate Of their Creator's happy state And that good which he could not heighten to dispence VII How large thy empire Love how great thy sway Omnipotence does thee obey What complicated wonders in thee shine He that t' infinity it self is great Has one way to be greater yet Love will the method shew 'T is to impart what is 't that thou O soveraign Passion can'st not do Thou mak'st Divinity it self much more divine VIII With pregnant love full-fraught the great Three-one Would now no longer be alone Love gentle love unlockt his fruitful breast And ' woke th' Ideas which there dormant lay Awak'd their Beautys they display Th' Almighty smil'd to see The comely form and harmony Of his eternal Imag'ry He saw 't was good and fair and th' infant platform blest IX Ye seeds of Being in whose fair bosoms dwell The Forms of all things possible Arise and your Prolific force display Let a fair issue in your moulds be cast To fill in part this empty wast He spake The Empty space Immediatly in travel was And soon brought forth a formless mass First matter came undress'd she made such hast t' obey X. But soon a Plastic spirit did ferment The liquid dusky element The Masse harmoniously begins to move Let there be Light said God 't was said and done The Masse dipt through with brightness shone Nature was pleas'd to see This feature of Divinity Th' Almighty smiled as well as she He own'd his likeness there and did his First-born love XI But lo I see a goodly frame arise Vast folding Orbs and azure skies With lucid whirle-pools the vast Arch does shine The Sun by day shews to each world his light The stars stand sentinel by night In midst of all is spread That ponderous bulk whereon we tread But where is its foundation laid 'T is pompous all and great and worthy hands divine XII Thy Temple 's built great God but where is he That must admire both it and thee Ope one Scene more my Muse bless and adore See there in solemn Councel and debate The great divine Triumvirate The rest one Word obey'd 'T was done almost before 't was said But Man was not so cheaply made To make the world was great but t' epitomize it more XIII Th' accomplish'd work stands his severe review Whose judgment 's most exactly ture In natures Book were no Errata's found All things are good said God they answer well Th' Ideas which within me dwell Th' Angelic
voices join Their Praise to the Applause divine The Morning stars in Hymns combine And as they sung play'd the jocant Orbs danc't round XIV With this thy Quire divine great God I bring My Eucharistic Offering I cannot here sing more exalted layes But what 's defective now I will supply When I enjoy thy Deity Then may'st thou sleep my Lyre I shall not then thy help require Diviner thoughts will then me fire Than thou tho playd on by an Angels hand canst raise Plato's two Cupids I. THe heart of man's a living Butt At which two different Archers shoot Their Shafts are pointed both with fire Both wound our hearts with hot desire II. In this they differ he that lyes A sacrifice t' his Mistress eyes In pain does live in pain expire And melts and drops before the fire III. But he that flame 's with love divine Does not in th' heat consume but shine H' enjoys the fire that round him lyes Serenely lives serenely dyes IV. So Devils and damned Souls in hell Fry in the fire with which they dwell But Angels suffer not the same Altho their Vehicles be flame V. The heart whose fire 's divine and chast Is like the Bush that did not wast Moses beheld the flame with fear That wasted not for God was there A Wish I. WHatever Blessing you my Life deny Grant me kind Heaven this one thing when I dye I charge thee guardian Spirit hear And as thou lov'st me further this my Prayer II. When I 'm to leave this grosser Sphere and try Death that amazing Curiosity When just about to breathe my last Then when no Mortal joy can strike my tast III. Let me soft melting strains of Music hear Whose Dying sounds may speak Death to my ear Gently the Bands of life unty Till in sweet raptures I dissolve and dye IV. How soft and easy my new Birth will be Help'd on by Music s gentle Midwifery And I who ' midst these charms expire Shall bring a Soul well tuned to Heaven's Quire. To Dr. More Ode I. GO Muse go hasten to the Cell of Fame Thou kow'st her reverend aweful seat It stands hard by your blest retreat Go with a brisk alarm assault her ear Bid her her loudest Trump prepare To sound a more than Human name A name more excellent and great Than she could ever publish yet Tell her she need not stay till Fate shall give A License to his Works and bid them live His Worth now shines through Envys base Alloy 'T will fill her widest Trump and all her Breath employ II. Learning which long like an inchanted Land Did Human force and Art defy And stood the Vertuoso's best Artillery Which nothing mortal could subdue Has yielded to this Hero's Fatal hand By him is conquer'd held and peopled too Like Seas that border on the shore The Muses Suburbs some possession knew But like the deep Abyss their iuner store Lay unpossess'd till seiz'd and own'd by you Truth 's outer Courts were trod before Sacred was her recess that Fate reserv'd for More III. Others in Learning's Chorus bear their part And the great Work distinctly share Thou our great Catholic Professour art All Science is annex'd to thy unerring Chair Some lesser Synods of the Wise The Muses kept in Universitys But never yet till in thy Soul Had they a Councel Oecumenical An Abstract they 'd a mind to see Of all their scatter'd gifts and summ'd them up in thee Thou hast the Arts whole Zodiac run And fathom'st all that here is known Strange restless Curiosity Adam himself came short of thee He tasted of the Fruit thou bear'st away the Tree IV. Whilest to be great the most aspire Or with low Souls to raise their fortunes higher Knowledg the chiefest Treasure of the Blest Knowledg the Wise man's best Request Was made thy choice for this thou hast declin'd A life of noise impertinence and State And what e're else the Muses hate And mad'st it thy one business to inrich thy mind How calm thy life how easy how secure Thou Intellectual Epicure Thou as another Solomon hast try'd All Nature through and nothing to thy Soul deny'd Who can two such examples shew He all things try'd t' enjoy and you all things to know V. By Babel's Curse and our Contracted span Heaven thought to check the swift career of man. And so it prov'd till now our age Is much too short to run so long a Stage And to learn words is such a vast delay That we 're benighted e're we come half way Thou with unusual hast driv'st on And dost even Time it self out-run No hindrance can retard thy Course Thou rid'st the Muses winged horse Thy Stage of Learning ends e're that of Life be done There 's now no work left for thy accomplish'd mind But to Survey thy Conquests and inform mankind The Passion of the Virgin Mother Beholding the Crucifixion of her divine Son. 1. NIgh to the Fatal and yet Soveraign wood Which crouds of wondring Angels did surround Devoutly sad the Holy Mother stood And view'd her Son sympathized with every wound II. Angelic piety in her mournful face Like rays of light through a watry cloud did shine Two mighty Passions in her breast took place And like her Son sh ' appear'd half human half divine III. She saw a blacker and more tragic Scene Than e're the Sun before or then would see In vain did nature draw her dusky Skreen She saw and wept and felt the dreadful Agony IV. Grief in the abstract sure can rise no higher Than that which this deep Tragedy did move She saw in tortures and in shame expire Her Son her God her worship and her Love. V. That sacred head which all divine and bright Struck with deep awe the Votarys of the East To which a Star paid Tributary light Which the then joyful mother kiss'd adored and blest VI. That head which Angels with pure light had crown'd Where Wisdom's Seat and Oracle was plac'd Whose air divine threw his Traitours to the ground She saw with pointed circles of rude thorns embrac'd VII Those hands whose soveraign touch were wont to heal All wounds and hurts that others did endure Did now the peircings of rough iron feel Nor could the wounded heart of his sad mother cure VIII No No it bled to see his body torn With nails and deck'd with gems of purple gore On four great wounds to see him rudely born Whom oft her arms a happy burthen found before IX It bled to hear that voice of grief and dread Which the Earths pillars and foundations shook Which rent the Rocks and ' woke the sleeping dead My God my God O why why hast thou me forsook X. And can the tide of Sorrow rise more high Her melting face stood thick with tears to view Like those of heaven his setting glorys dye As flowers left by the Sun are charged with evening dew XI But see grief spreads her empire still more wide
both the world's and his own rest to make himself great For besides the emptiness of the thing the Play will quickly be done and the Actors must all retire into a state of equality and then it matters not who personated the Emperor or who the Slave To what purpose should a man be very earnest in the persuit of Fame He must shortly dye and so must those too who admire him Nay I could almost say to what purpose should a man lay himself out upon study and drudge so laboriously in the Mines of Learning He 's no sooner a little wiser than his Brethren but Death thinks him ripe for his sickle and for ought we know after all his pains and industry in the next world an Ideot or a Mechanic will be as forward as he To what purpose lastly does a Tyrant oppress his people transgress those bounds which wise Nature has set him invade his neighbor's Countrys deprive the innocent and peaceable of their Liberty sack Cities plunder Provinces depopulate Kingdoms and almost put the foundations of the Earth out of course to what purpose is all this Thou Fool says our B. Saviour this night thy Soul shall be required of thee and then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided There is certainly nothing in all Nature so strange and unaccountable as the actions of some men They see as the Psalmist speaks that wise men also dye and perish together as well as the ignorant and foolish and leave their riches for others and yet they think at least act as if they did that their houses shall continue for ever and that their dwelling places shall endure from one generation to another and call their lands after their own names This they think is their wisdom but the Psalmist assures them 't is their foolishness and such a foolishness too as makes them comparable to the Beasts that perish however their Posterity may praise their saying And certainly the Learned Apostle was of the same mind when from this Principle The time is short he deduces the very same conclusion we have hitherto pleaded for that we should be very indifferent and unconcern'd about any worldly good or evil that they that have wives should be as tho they had none and they that weep as the they wept not they that rejoice as tho they rejoiced not they that buy as tho they possest not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passes away It does so and for that reason there is nothing in this life to be very much lov'd or very much fear'd especially if we consider what a grand interest we have all of us at stake in the other world For as 't is with the sufferings so is it with the enjoyments of this present time they are neither of them worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed We have seen how frivolous and unconcerning the greatest affairs of this world are how unworthy to be made the objects of our solicitude much more to be the Business of our lives we have weigh'd them in the Ballance and they are found wanting But man is a Creature of brisk and active facultys and is there no employment for him yes as God has furnish'd him with Powers so also has he assign'd him a work and such a one too as is to be perform'd with Fear and Trembling There is a good fight to be fought there is a whole Body of sin to be destroy'd there are Passions to be mortify'd Habits to be unlearnt Affections to be purify'd Vertuous and holy dispositions to be acquired Acts of vertue to be opposed against Acts of sin and Habits against Habits in a word there is a Heaven to be obtain'd and a Hell to be avoided This indeed is a great work and of great concernment to be done and such as calls for our principal I could almost say our whole care and diligence The great necessity of which for more distinctness sake I shall represent in a few Considerations And I st it highly concerns us to be very careful concerning our final interest because of the vast the infinite Moment of the thing For certainly it can be no less whether a man shall be Damn'd or Saved eternally Happy or eternally Miserable No man certainly that thinks at all can think this an indifferent matter or if he does he will one day be sadly convinc'd of the contrary when he shall curse the day of his Birth and wish for the Mercy of Annihilation The lowest conception we can frame of the condition of the Damn'd is an utter exclusion from the Beatific presence of God. And tho the non-enjoyment of this be no great punishment to sensual men in this state and Region of exile who perhaps would be content that God should keep Heaven to himself so he would let them have the free use of the Earth yet hereafter when the Powers of their Souls shall be awaken'd to their full vigour and activity when they shall have a lively and thorough apprehension of true Happiness and of the infinite Beautys of the Supreme good there will arise such a vehement Thirst such an intense longing in the Soul as will infinitely exceed the most exalted languishments of Love the highest Droughts of a Fever The Soul will then point to the Center of Happiness with her full bent and verticity which yet she shall find utterly out of her reach and so full of Desire and full of Despair she shall lament both her Folly and her Misery to eternal ages And who is able to dwell even with these everlasting Burnings But 2ly as an Argument for our great Care we may consider that as the interest is great so a more than ordinary care is necessary to secure it And that upon several accounts I st because our Redemption by Christ is not our immediat and actual discharge from sin as the Antinomians would have it but only an instating us into a Capacity of Pardon and Reconciliation which is to be actually obtain'd by the performance of Conditions without which we shall be so far from being the better for what has been done and suffer'd for us that our Condemnation will be so much the heavier for neglecting to finish so great Salvation 2ly Because the Conditions of our Salvation tho temper'd with much mercy and accommodation to human infirmity are yet so difficult as to engage us to put forth our whole might to the work A great part of Christianity is very harsh to Flesh and Blood however to the Habituated Disciple Christ's yoke may be easy and his burthen light And accordingly the Path that leads to life is call'd narrow and the gate tho open'd by our Saviour is yet so strait that we are bid to strive to enter in at it And the Righteous scarcely are sav'd Again because there is a strong confederacy against us among the Powers of darkness We have a very
was so pronounc'd and consequently they both own the Truth of the foremention'd Principle that that choice which is best is not to be rescinded 18. This being firm all the business in question now will be whether he that is Holy has made the best choice or no. And if it shall appear that he has then by the Principle just now laid down he ought not nay he cannot be so much a Contradiction to himself as to rescind it Now to convince him that he has made the best choice I desire him to consider 1st that he has chosen that which God had chosen for him before so that his choice stands recommended to him by the Authority of infinite and unerring wisdom And this is foundation enough to warrant a certain tho implicit perswasion that it must needs be best for him I say best for him for God being already possess'd of all possible perfection cannot act any thing for any self-advantage and therefore whatsoever he does is for the good of his Creatures For there is this difference as Divine Plato excellently well observes between the Divine love and created love that the one springs from Indigency and the other from fullness and redundancy And therefore as God did not at first speak this world into being to raise himself a monument of Power and divine Architecture so neither does he govern the Rational part of it by the Precepts of Religion out of any self-design as if he feasted his nostrils with the perfumes of the Altar or his ears with the accents of an Hallelujah For can a man be profitable to God as he that is wise may be profitable to himself Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous or is it gain to him that thou makest thy way perfect No certainly and therefore when he chalk'd out the ways of Righteousness and Holiness for man to walk in it could not be for any self end but purely for the good of man and consequently if infinite wisdom be to be trusted it must be his best choice to be Holy. 19. Secondly let him consider that the Practice of Religion consults a man's whole interest and partly of its own nature and partly by divine constitution tends to make him happy in all his capacitys and consequently must needs be his best choice As for impious and unjust Practises if they do at any time promote a man's private and secular interest yet 't is always both at the expence of the public and of his own eternal welfare and then what will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own Soul But now this is the peculiar gain of godliness that it has the promise both of this life and of that which is to come that it conduces to our advantage both here and hereafter Interest and Duty are immediatly link'd together in this life and every Vertue has a natural Sanction of Reward and Punishment respectively attending it as I could easily demonstrate but that it has been already done by many excellent hands and particularly with Mathematic evidence by a late writer of our own And altho it happen somtimes through the unreasonableness and injustice of men that Duty and Interest interfere and that Vertue be defeated of the Portion she is naturally endow'd with yet she shall recover her own again at the great Assize at the day of the revelation of the righteous Judgments of God. And altho instead of being rewarded it be our fortune to suffer for righteousness sake yet we Christians know that it entitles us to one of our Saviours Beatitudes and we are also well assured from one whose case it was to be so dealt with that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealâ—d and that our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory So that whatever difficultys and hardships Religion may somtimes engage a man in yet when the whole account is cast up he will find the Practise of Religion as gainful as the belief of it is rational that to be Holy is his best choice and that he has infinite reason to pray in the words of Balaam Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his 20. And now one would think that one who has so great and so apparent reason for his choice as the Religious man has should not easily be brought to retract it and say with those in Malachi it is vain to serve God and what profit is it that I have kept his ordinances But because 't is observ'd to be the Nature of Man to be more strongly affected with Punishments than Rewards I shall for his better establishment in the purposes of Holiness present him with the 2d general Consideration which is that if notwithstanding the excellency of his choice he does retract it he will not only lose the advantages of it but also incur an opposite portion of misery and that in greater measures than other sinners 21. That he will lose the advantages of his first and best choice is plain from the whole tenour of the Gospel Perseverance to the end being the express condition of Salvation And that he will incur an opposite portion of misery is plain from the double Sanction of Rewards and Punishments wherewith God has bound us to the observance of his otherwise sufficiently profitable Laws And altho this be sufficient in the severest trials to preserve us from Apostasy and when flames of fire surround us to secure our footing in the Holy ground yet thus far is but to dye the common death of sinners and to be visited after the visitation of the Impenitent But now if the Lord make a new thing and the Desertor of Piety be punish'd in a greater measure than other sinners then shall ye understand that this man has provoked the Lord. 22. And that he shall be so punish'd is the peculiar consideration which I shall now insist upon and which I prove from the heinousness of his crime Apostasy having in it many degrees of evil beyond the common state of sin For if after they have escaped the Pollutions of the world through the knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again entangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have kuown the way of Righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment deliver'd unto them 23. But to represent the heinousness of Apostasy a little more particularly and that this sin above all others may appear to be exceeding sinful let me desire the unthinking man to consider 1st that he that falls back from a course of holy living does in a special manner grieve the holy Spirit of God. He sacrilegiously takes that