gold but th' taste bereave And in an instant vanish'd are The other tasted truly fill And further touch't are sweeter still Mad Prodigalls we may a while Hurried away by lust go eat Husks with the nasty hogs but still We no society beget Till that our father doth us fill And we return O let us go Since we such entertainment know EPIGRAM 5. â—t hungry Boy go to yon vine there see â—he grapes of life in purple clusters be â—ere meet with Israels sheepheard 't is his vine â—â—'s gardner both and sun to dress and shine 1 How long How long why is not this hour the period of my filthiness Aug. Conf. 2. lib. 8. EVen as the splitting mariner Blasted with storms â—oth in short sighs his vowes profer And so performs 〈◊〉 broken accents what his tongue â—ould not but in the utterance wrong 2 〈◊〉 doth the soul when that the weight Of sin doth lie â—pon her crazie shoulders straight Her groanes do crie â—ishing she knows not what yet more â—hen any language can implore 3 How long my father wilt me leave How long I must 〈◊〉 an inhabitant of th' grave involv'd in dust â—hou who createdst all canst raise 〈◊〉 out of ashes if thou please 4 How every passion is become Mine enemie And drawes me further from the home Where I should be Yet thou canst curb them thou alone Who ne'r wast swaid by passion 5 Oh when shall snowy Innocence My inmate be And I freed from my load of sence Flie up to thee Drown me in blood then I le appear Washt in that crimson river clear 6 Look Lord upon my miseries How they appeaâ— Scribled and fragmented in sighs Before thee here Stop them I pray yet I confess These groanings are my happiness 7 'T is the first step to health to know We are not well I ope my wounds unto thee so Poure oyl and heal And when they 're closed up take care They prove not deeper then they are EPIGRAM 6. Most happy Rhetorick of sighs that bear 's such strong perswasions to Jehovahs eares Which stand most firm when faltring tongue doth fall And when thou speakest worst speak'st best of all 1 Take up and Read Take up and Read Aug. lib. 8. cap. 12. UNhappy boy How art thou now become Thy self thy Tombe Within what darkness dost thou lie Such as that glorious Prince of light Whose smiles inamell every flower Cannot affright But that these vapours still condense the more 2 How are thine eyes Courted with whatsoere The terming eare Or pregnant nature can devise Yet what a winter is within What marble freezings which congeal Though they have been Bath'd in warmed showers which from thine eyes did steal 3 Insatiate soul Which hast devoured each art Yet hungry art And like an empty ship dost roul Where wilt thou once contented rest Exempt from all this fluctuation And fixt thy brest Where 't may repose in a secured station 4 Turn but thine eye And view that folded Oracle That lately fell Heard'st not thou some soft murmur crie TAKE UP AND READ obey there is If thoâ— canst ope thy purged eare High misteries That can direct thy feet thine eyesight clear 5 Thou never took In hand an harder lesson then Thou did'st begin Prying the secrets of this book For it will teach thee how to set In paths that cannot tread awry Thy wandring feet And shew thee where the source of blisse doth lie EPIGRAM 7. Take up these leaves within that little Room Lie endless depths 't is Gods Autographum The hardest Book and easiest which can give Death to the dying Life to them that live The unlearned rise and take heaven by violence and we with our learning without affection behold where we wallow in flesh and bloud Aug. Conf. lib. 8. cap. 8. VAin curiosity yee lead The mind in mazes make her tread A-side while that she toyles and is not fed O empty searchings do I care If I can slice yon burning sphere To the least atoms and yet near come there Though I can number every flame That fleets within that glorious frame Yet do not look on him that can them name Though I can in my travell'd mind The earth and all her treasures find Yet leaving pride swolne into hills behind Though I can plum the sea and try What monsters in her womb do lie Yet n'ere a drop fall from my frozen eye Am I the better though I could All wisdome with a breath unfold And a heart boundless as the Ocean hold No not a whit unless that he By whom these glorious wonders be Lead me and teach mine eyes himself to see Yet may a modest ignorance Unto so great an height advance And of such sparkling beauties gain a glance He that 's all wisdom do'es not care How full our teeming fancies are Of touring notions if our hearts be clear They are but wildfires that remain With rouling flashes in the brain If that the heart thereby no heat doth gain He is the wisest that doth know To whom he doth allegiance ow To whom his rebell passions ought to bow Who with a rude yet heedy eye His maker finds in every flie And Treads to heaven by humilitie Who with a watchfull heediness An omnipresence doth confess And not by cobweb Theorems express Let others seek to know they shall But into greater blindness fall And ere their course be run know nought at all Since what we know is but a gleam That ow's its lustre to a beam Which from that inf'nite spring of light doth stream EPIGRAM 8. Each minute learn and by that learning know The more thou clim'st the more thou art below Still let thy brain strength to thy heart dispence And think the greatest wisdom's Innocence 1 â— Lord behold my heart which thou pitiedst in the bottomless pit Aug. Conf. lib. 4. cap. 2. LOrd dost thou see This ruddy piece of clay how it doth flie Up towards thee Ambitious of a sweet tranquillity Within thy bosome loe How speedily 't doth go Featherd by active fire Whereby it mount's and towers up higher Then its own groveling thoughts could reach Before that thou didst teach How doth it throw And leave below Those which wear shackles but now trophies are Oh how it flashes Reduc't to ashes Yet were alive till now Those darts are med'cines which destructive were And cut but beds for balm to flow â—â—ilst the ascending day forgets 't was ere below 2 Yet this was once Grave to it self bound in most potent chaines Corruptions Whilst a chil'd poison did congeal my veines Which speckledtombestones were Then durst no day appear But darkness shrowded all And thick Egyptian damps did fall I knew not I benighted was Or else a night did cause Pleas'd that I lay Without a ray Till thou great world of light broke out 〈◊〉 theâ— My chains did fall I that was all One issicle became One tear and now my veines ran bloud againâ— Take Lord what thou thy self didst frame And on
thine Altar deign to cherish thine own flaâ—â— EPIGRAM 9. â—'me thine and for my homage take my heart 〈◊〉 'T is though a little yet my greatest part Which can as well not lie as think and say I give but what I cannot keep away Who took me by the hand and brought me out of that darkness wherewith I was in love Aug. Soliloq cap. 37. 1 VVHilst sable bands of night did bind My drousie mind And my eyes useless were when day Was shrunk away Whose was that ray That stole so kindly in and shew'd Glimses of light again both how Stars in their vaulted sea do flow â—nd how the Sun 's tryumphant toyles renew'd 2 Who wa' st that taught mee deeds of night are mere deceit And all the light she seems to set Are counterfet And if but met By smallest twinklings disapear That wayes are then uncertain and We can't in any surety stand â—isturbed or by danger or by fear 3 Who wrought upon me that great cure As to endure Like th' royall eagle with a straight And unmov'd sight The flowing light Who taught me joy when that mine eyes Were more possest with strengthened gleames Sent from associated beames Who taught me failing shadowes to dispise 4 Thou center of all light whom none Can look upon Who when the world but new begun Didst give a sun With light to run Thou from whose sight no lurking cave No nor the most retyring deep Which the still reeling sea doth sweep Lies hid no nor the secrets of the grave 5 Thou who canst stop the sun and cause him soon to pause O on this Scythian breast of mine Keep a straight line And nere decline That by degrees this grosness may That now attends me be calcin'd To dust and I from dregs refin'd Mounted upon thy love may fly away EPIGRAM 10. Let the sun cherish day I cannot see The best approach of sight unless through Thee Yet Thee I cannot though I labour still For Thou art Glory inaccessible â—ebriate my heart Oh God! with the sober intemperance of thy love Aug. Meditat. cap. 37. NOw love I all excess now let me be An enemy to all sobriety â—n the faint hart whose nimble footing stray â—ong the devious forrests all the day â—â—ilst that her foes as swift as lightning press â—ind yet not so swift as merciless â—d scorching heat her parched intralls dry â—â—at in her self her greatest dangers lie â—en she com's near cold streams who as they pass 〈◊〉 with their silver footings clear the grass â—asure her thirst but rather covets more â—e naturall julip then she did before â—s so with me my God! but I have been â—sued with enemies that to lodg within â—ose rage know's no regress But boyles up higher â—e Arsenall mine heart is set on fire â—ich will devour untill that ashes be â—e weak resisters of its cruelty 〈◊〉 waters prove but fewell nay the sea â—r'd on would onely oyl and sulphur be 〈◊〉 shower thy rayes upon it Lord smoother â—e violence of one flame by another â—en to refresh me send cool showers that may â—rease such potent feavers and allay â—solve those clouds that interpose so shall â—alming tempests in my bosome fall 〈◊〉 is my wasting out into the main That they may draw me to the shore again But when I am on shore oh how I gape Furrowed with clifted chinks oh how I leap And fly asunder that I nothing seem But one great ruine when the fiery beam Of thy fierce wrath descendeth and doth roul Hells sad preludium into my soul. But Thou whose open side produc't a floud As white as Crystall yet all stayn'd with bloud Drown me within those waters let me lie Within that watry tomb so shall I flie From death to life and all my ruines be Nothing but reparation by Thee EPIGRAM 11. â—e cheers the Heart of man but love doth give â—e principles of life and make it live â—s else but carrion or a freezing Sun â—cending flames wings without motion 1 â—ove when it come's doth captivate all the other affections and draw them unto it self Aug. Manual cap. 18. TYrannick love whose active fires Plumes slow desires And make's them swiftly taper up Till flattering hope Stroke them and win them to her breast Though not to rest Yet in that motion they close In some repose â—s steel hovering 'bove loadstones quiet growe's 2 Emperour of heart who do'es dilate Her narrow state That she outgrow's the earth aud's even As wide as heaven Yet not so vast but thou art king Thou centrall spring From whom all passions first began To flow and than â—evolve into thee as their Ocean 3 Tyrant o' th soul who if thou please Her powers to raise They tryumph for to meet thee and Take thy command Thine who knit'st altogether here Yon azure sphere This floting ball or what doth lie Ope to the eye All are conjoyned by thy mystick tie 4 Thou who can'st sweeten dangers that We do not hate Their griffy visages nor fear Their threats but rear Our thoughts above all injury Or if we lie But in thy fetters how we rove And sore above That 's circle's infinite whose center 's love EPIGRAM 12. What 's love what 's God Both the like greatness hold One is Omnipotent the other would â—oth are attractive and diffusive yea â—od is himself but abstract charity â—ord thou hast made me for thee and my heart is unquiet till it Rest in thee Aug. Conf. lib. 1. cap. 1. LOrd what is man 〈◊〉 mass of wonders cluster'd in a span One who can tell â—he eye yet his best part invisible As great a piece â—f beauty as wise nature can express But who can find The uncontrouled swiftness of his mind How't can reflect â—pon it self and by its intellect When it shall please â—lime highest mountains plum the deepest seas Or nimbly wind â—o either pole and see where all 's calcin'd To save by heat Whom cold doe's all in glassy shackles set Or ere the eye â—an turn it self clamber the azure skie Yet cannot she â—ind rest at all till that she rest in thee Thee who did'st lay â—er active substance in the cell of clay Yet hast indued â—nd deck't her with thine own similâ—â— That there might be â—ome little ectypes of thy Majestie Though he could chase Old time into his cradle yea and trace Each planet as He through his azure circuit doth pass And subt'ly eye How multiformious Meteors strangely fly But can the heart Find any settlement although all art Should court and be Transformed into one great flattery No no till thou Who art alone all fulness sweetly flow Into 't and be The cause of hunger by society Then may she rest In thee who art her center and though prest With sorrowes even As low as hell bounce up as high as Heaven EPIGRAM 13. Can the earth dance the Ocean fall asleep Or can the thoughts of man their quiet keep 'Till they be home from all their travells
knots of Snakes that solely wait for prey 3 To dream of flight Is more then madness there will be Either some strong necessitie Or else delight To chain us would we flee Thus do I wandring go And cannot poysons know From wholsome simples that beside them grow 4 Blind that I am That do not see before mine eyes These gaping dangers that arise Ever the same Or in varieties Far worse how shall I scape Or whether shall I leap Or with what comforts solace my hard hap 5 Thou who alone Canst give assistance send me aid Else shall I in those depths be laid And quickly thrown Whereof I am afraid Thou who canst stop the sea In her mid-rage stop me Least from my self my own self-ruine be EPIGRAM 1. Should'st thou not sometimes man in dangerstand Thy Lord would not so freely reach his hand But now he helps at need thus do we see That sometimes danger brings securitie 1 Toyes of toyes and vanities of vanities did withhold mee Aug. Conf. l. 8. c. 11. EVen as the wandring Traveller doth stray Lead from his way By a false fire whose flame to cheated sight doth lead aright All Paths are footed over but that one Which should be gone Even so my foolish wishes are in chase Of every thing but what they should embrace 2 We laugh at children that can when they please A bubble raise And when their fond Ambition sated is Again dismisse Thee fleeting Toy into its former aire What do we here But act such tricks yet thus we differ they Destroy so do not we we sweat they play 3 Ambitious towring's do some gallants keep From calmer sleep Yet when these thoughts the most possessed are They grope but aire And when they 're highest in an instant fade Into a shade Or like a stone that more forc't upwards shall With greater violence to its centre fall 4 Another whose conceptions onely dream Monsters of fame The vain applause of other mad-men buyes With his own sighes Yet his enlarged Name shall never craul Over this ball But soon consume thus doth a trumpet's sound Rush bravely on a little then 's not found 5 But we as soon may tell how often shapes Are chang'd by apes As know how oft mans childish thoughts do vary And still miscarry So a weak eye in twilight thinks it sees New species While it sees nought so men in dreams conceive Of scepters till that waking undeceive EPIGRAM 2. Why frets thou that thy soul doth dote upon These guilded trifles of corruption Thy self 's the very cause what remedy And thine own hearts a Traytor to thine eye Thou art with me in secret O Lord whipping me oft with the rods of fear and shame Aug. Conf. lib. 8. chap. 11. NO sooner wretched man beginning is To do amiss But fear doth give alarm's and wake The drousie conscience which doth shake The raging Passions yet they forward run Pursuing alwayes what they first begun Thus doth depraved man at first begin To act his sin And put his hand to that his heart Doth with such opposition thwart Half punishing before thus Serpent sin To sting and poyson doth at once begin But when w' have acted what deprav'd desire Did first require The torturer Guilt doth banish fear Aud sin doth like her self appear Arm'd with her venom'd snakes which ready stand To punish what her self did first command By this means conscience disturb'd doth so Enraged grow That she whips out all peace so we Snatch't from our false securitie Are torne by our own tortures such as ne're The worst offender can from tyrant fear Then we suppose each twig that is behind mov'd by the wind Would give a lash we think a hare Flying detest's us if we heare A lamkin bleat for milk we think 't doth cry Mother yon man 's a sinner come not nigh Meanwhile the silken bonds of sleep Cannot us keep Or if one slumber seaze our eyes Legions of ugly dreams arise That in the night we wish for day in day Finding no ease we wish the light away While that thy fiery steed did run Poor Absalon Thy circkling knots of golden hair Onely so many halters were And to thee fairest of the earth that earth Gave not a death-bed that had given the birth EPIGRAM 3. So fatall ' t is he that commits a crime Is his own executioner that time And is with secret sorrows onely rent Since sin it self is its own punishment 1 So I was sick and in torture turning me up and down in my bonds Aug. Conf. 8. cap. 11. SHould'st thou not Lord dispence Thy powerfull influence We all should freez Like Scythian seas Bound up in flinty ice and all The suns kind warmth in vain should fall Nor would dame Nature let her riches come out of her womb But since thou let'st thy rays run free And spirit gives To all that lives Each severall thing continues but by thee 2 Thus art thou sweetly hurl'd Even through the little world But once bereave What first thou gave What a lean dulnesse soon doth thwart The dead and putryfying heart No high affections then advance the soul and make it roul About the woolly clouds to play And censure all That 's here as small As the least Atome that sports in a ray 3 Then is mortality A most enforcing lie And clay is grown As hard as stone Nor can our cunning make it loose Till that thy heat do interpose Thus do our wounds corrupt and gaping stand Till that thine hand Do gently close and pull these darts Which so have bin By the sent in To our insensate and obdurate hearts EPIGRAM 4. What art thou sick to death go and reside 〈◊〉 yon red Hospitall that stands so wide â—as â—is a wound what though by it thou'lt be â—ealed of whatsoever infirmity â—as hungry within because I wanted thee my inward meat O my God 3. Conf. cap. 4. â—N vain you court my wanton taste Choycest of Natures delicates â—ere is no strength in such repast â—hough gained by excessive rates â—ee onely counterfeit a feast Devour what aire earth sea can give Thou 'lt not one moment longer live â—o but accelerate thy fall â—hough stuff'd with whatsoever spice â—he East can yield though fancy shall Assisted by proud lust devize â—o swallow at one bit this All. Art thou so blind thou canst not see Thy self thus tantalized bee 〈◊〉 that thy parched gums be dry The other are not reall and 〈◊〉 hunger gripe thy stomack fly To him who 'll lead thee by the hand Where thou may'st streams of life espy There drink thy fill at any rate Thou canst not be intemperate There is the true Ambrosia Food worthy the Aetheriall soul Which shall due nourishment conveigh Such as no hunger can controul But it thy fainting limbs will stay With due refreshment which shall bee As long-liv'd as Aeternity O do but taste and see how far These Sodom-apples do deceive They do beguile the eye as fair Rich Balls of