ver. 35. Watch you therefore for you know not when the master of the house commeth at Even or at mid-night or at the Cock-crowing or in the morning Mans fall and Recovery FArewell you Everlasting hills I 'm Cast Here under Clouds where stormes and tempests blast This sully'd flowre Rob'd of your Calme nor can I ever make Transplanted thus one leafe of his t' awake But ev'ry houre He sleepes and droops and in this drowsie state Leaves me a slave to passions and my fate Besides I 've lost A traine of lights which in these Sun-shine dayes Were my sure guides and only with me stayes Unto my cost One sullen beame whose charge is to dispense More punishment than knowledge to my sense Two thousand yeares I sojourn'd thus at last Jeshuruns king Those famous tables did from Sinai bring These swell'd my feares Guilts trespasses and all this Inward Awe For sinne tooke strength and vigour from the Law Yet have I found A plenteous way thanks to that holy one To cancell all that e're was writ in stone His saving wound Wept bloud that broke this Adamant and gave To sinners Confidence life to the grave This makes me span My fathers journeys and in one faire step O're all their pilgrimage and labours leap For God made man Reduc'd th' Extent of works of faith so made Of their Red Sea a Spring I wash they wade Rom. Cap. 18. ver. 19. As by the offence of one the fault came on all men to condemnation So by the Righteousness of one the benefit abounded towards all men to the Iustification of life The Showre 'T Was so I saw thy birth That drowsie Lake From her faint bosome breath'd thee the disease Of her sick waters and Infectious Ease But now at Even Too grosse for heaven Thou fall'st in teares and weep'st for thy mistake 2. Ah! it is so with me oft have I prest Heaven with a lazie breath but fruitles this Peirc'd not Love only can with quick accesse Unlock the way When all else stray The smoke and Exhalations of the brest 3. Yet if as thou doest melt and with thy traine Of drops make soft the Earth my eyes could weep O're my hard heart that 's bound up and asleep Perhaps at last Some such showres past My God would give a Sun-shine after raine Distraction O Knit me that am crumbled dust the heape Is all dispers'd and cheape Give for a handfull but a thought And it is bought Hadst thou Made me a starre a pearle or a rain-bow The beames I then had shot My light had lessend not But now I find my selfe the lesse the more I grow The world Is full of voices Man is call'd and hurl'd By each he answers all Knows ev'ry note and call Hence still Fresh dotage tempts or old usurps his will Yet hadst thou clipt my wings when Coffin'd in This quicken'd masse of sinne And saved that light which freely thou Didst then bestow I feare I should have spurn'd and said thou didst forbeare Or that thy store was lesse But now since thou didst blesse So much I grieve my God! that thou hast made me such I grieve O yes thou know'st I doe Come and releive And tamâ— and keepe downe with thy light Dust that would rise and dimme my sight Lest left alone too long Amidst the noise and throng Oppressed I Striving to save the whole by parcells dye The Pursuite LOrd what a busie restles thing Hast thou made man Each day and houre he is on wing Rests not a span Then having lost the Sunne and light By clouds surpriz'd He keepes a Commerce in the night With aire disguis'd Hadst thou given to this active dust A state untir'd The lost Sonne had not left the huske Nor home desir'd That was thy secret and it is Thy mercy too For when all failes to bring to blisse Then this must doe Ah! Lord and what a Purchase will that be To take us sick that sound would not take thee Mount of Olives SWeete sacred hill on whole fair brow My Saviour sate shall I allow Language to love And Idolize some shade or grove Neglecting thee such ill-plac'd wit Conceit or call it what you please Is the braines fit And meere disease 2. Cotswold and Coopers both have met With learned swaines and Eccho yet Their pipes and wit But thou sleep'st in a deepe neglect Untouch'd by any And what need The sheep bleat thee a silly Lay That heard'st both reed And sheepward play 3. Yet if Poets mind thee well They shall find thou art their hill And fountaine too Their Lord with thee had most to doe He wept once walkt whole nights on thee And from thence his suff'rings ended Unto glorie Was attended 4. Being there this spacious ball Is but his narrow footstoole all And what we thinke Unsearchable now with one winke He doth comprise But in this aire When he did stay to beare our Ill And sinne this Hill Was then his Chaire The Incarnation and Passion LOrd when thou didst thy selfe undresse Laying by thy robes of glory To make us more thou wouldst be lesse And becam'st a wofull story To put on Clouds instead of light And cloath the morning-starre with dust Was a translation of such height As but in thee was ne'r exprest Brave wormes and Earth that thus could have A God Enclos'd within your Cell Your maker pent up in a grave Life lockt in death heav'n in a shell Ah my deare Lord what couldst thou spye In this impure rebellious clay That made thee thus resolve to dye For those that kill thee every day O what strange wonders could thee move To slight thy precious bloud and breath Sure it was Love my Lord for Love Is only stronger far than death The Call COme my heart come my head In sighes and teares 'T is now since you have laine thus dead Some twenty years Awake awake Some pitty take Upon your selves Who never wake to grone nor weepe Shall be sentenc'd for their sleepe 2. Doe but see your sad estate how many sands Have left us while we careles sate With folded hands What stock of nights Of dayes and yeares In silent flights Stole by our eares How ill have we our selves bestow'd Whose suns are all set in a Cloud 3. Yet come and let 's peruse them all And as we passe What sins on every minute fall Score on the glasse Then weigh and rate Their heavy State Untill The glasse with teares you fill That done we shal be safe and good Those beasts were cleane that chew'd the Cud. THou that know'st for whom I mourne And why these teares appeare That keep'st account till he returne Of all his dust left here As easily thou mightst prevent As now produce these teares And adde unto that day he went A faire supply of yeares But 't was my sinne that forc'd thy hand To cull this Prim-rose out That by thy early choice forewarn'd My soule might looke about O what a vanity is man
Had some glimpse of his birth He saw Heaven o'r his head and knew from whence He came condemned hither And as first Love draws strongest so from hence His mind sure progress'd thither Things here were strange unto him Swet and till All was a thorn or weed Nor did those last but like himself dyed still As soon as they did Seed They seem'd to quarrel with him for that Act That fel him foyl'd them all He drew the Curse upon the world and Crackt The whole frame with his fall This made him long for home as loath to stay With murmurers and foes He sigh'd for Eden and would often say Ah! what bright days were those Nor was Heav'n cold unto him for each day The vally or the Mountain Afforded visits and still Paradise lay In some green shade or fountain Angels lay Leiger here Each Bush and Cel Each Oke and high-way knew them Walk but the fields or sit down at some wil And he was sure to view them Almighty Love where art thou now mad man Sits down and freezeth on He raves and swears to stir nor fire nor fan But bids the thread be spun I see thy Curtains are Close-drawn Thy bow Looks dim too in the Cloud Sin triumphs still and man is sunk below The Center and his shrowd All 's in deep sleep and night Thick darknes lyes And hatcheth o'r thy people But hark what trumpets that what Angel cries Arise Thrust in thy sickle H. Scriptures WElcome dear book souls Joy and food The feast Of Spirits Heav'n extracted lyes in thee Thou art lifes Charter The Doves spotless neast Where souls are hatch'd unto Eternitie In thee the hidden stone the Manna lies Thou art the great Elixir rare and Choice The Key that opens to all Mysteries The Word in Characters God in the Voice O that I had deep Cut in my hard heart Each line in thee Then would I plead in groans Of my Lords penning and by sweetest Art Return upon himself the Law and Stones Read here my faults are thine This Book and I Will tell thee so Sweet Saviour thou didst dye Unprofitablenes HOw rich O Lord how fresh thy visits are 'T was but Just now my bleak leaves hopeless hung Sullyed with dust and mud Each snarling blast shot through me and did share Their Youth and beauty Cold showres nipt and wrung Their spiciness and bloud But since thou didst in one sweet glance survey Their sad decays I flourish and once more Breath all perfumes and spice I smell a dew like Myrrh and all the day Wear in my bosome a full Sun such store Hath one beame from thy Eys But ah my God! what fruit hast thou of this What one poor leaf did ever I yet fall To wait upon thy wreath Thus thou all day a thankless weed doest dress And when th' hast done a stench or fog is all The odour I bequeath CHRISTS Nativity AWake glad heart get up and Sing It is the Birth-day of thy King Awake awake The Sun doth shake Light from his locks and all the way Breathing Perfumes doth spice the day 2. Awak awak heark how th' wood rings Winds whisper and the busie springs A Consort make A wake awake Man is their high-priest and should rise To offer up the sacrifice 3. I would I were some Bird or Star Flutt'ring in woods or lifted far Above this Inne And Rode of sin Then either Star or Bird should be Shining or singing still to thee 4. I would I had in my best part Fit Roomes for thee or that my heart Were so clean as Thy manger was But I am all filth and obscene Yet if thou wilt thou canst make clean 5. Sweet Jesu will then Let no more This Leper haunt and soyl thy door Cure him Ease him O release him And let once more by mystick birth The Lord of life be borne in Earth II. HOw kind is heav'n to man If here One sinner doth amend Strait there is Joy and ev'ry sphere In musick doth Contend And shall we then no voices lift Are mercy and salvation Not worth our thanks Is life a gift Of no more acceptation Shal he that did come down from thence And here for us was slain Shal he be now cast off no sense Of all his woes remain Can neither Love nor suff'rings bind Are we all stone and Earth Neither his bloudy passions mind Nor one day blesse his birth Alas my God! Thy birth now here Must not be numbred in the year The Check PEace peace I blush to hear thee when thou art A dusty story A speechlesse heap and in the midst my heart In the same livery drest Lyes tame as all the rest When six years thence digg'd up some youthfull Eie Seeks there for Symmetry But finding none shal leave thee to the wind Or the next foot to Crush Scatt'ring thy kind And humble dust tell then dear flesh Where is thy glory 2. As he that in the midst of day Expects The hideous night Sleeps not but shaking off sloth and neglects Works with the Sun and sets Paying the day its debts That for Repose and darknes bound he might Rest from the fears i' th' night So should we too All things teach us to die And point us out the way While we passe by And mind it not play not away Thy glimpse of light 3. View thy fore-runners Creatures giv'n to be Thy youths Companions Take their leave and die Birds beasts each tree All that have growth or breath Have one large language Death O then play not but strive to him who Can Make these sad shades pure Sun Turning their mists to beams their damps to day Whose pow'r doth so excell As to make Clay A spirit and true glory dwell In dust and stones 4. Heark how he doth Invite thee with what voice Of Love and sorrow He begs and Calls O that in these thy days Thou knew'st but thy own good Shall not the Crys of bloud Of Gods own bloud awake thet He bids beware Of drunknes surfeits Care But thou sleep'st on wher 's now thy protestation Thy Lines thy Love Away Redeem the day The day that gives no observation Perhaps to morrow Disorder and frailty WHen first thou didst even from the grave And womb of darknes becken out My brutish soul and to thy slave Becam'st thy self both guide and Scout Even from that hour Thou gotst my heart And though here tost By winds and bit with frost I pine and shrink Breaking the link 'Twixt thee and me And oftimes creep Into th' old silence and dead sleep Quitting thy way All the long day Yet sure my God! I love thee most Alas thy love 2. I threaten heaven and from my Cell Of Clay and frailty break and bud Touch'd by thy fire and breath Thy bloud Too is my Dew and springing wel But while I grow And stretch to thee ayming at all Thy stars and spangled hall Each fly doth tast Poyson and blast My yielding leaves sometimes
pining all his life there did scarce trust His own hands with the dust Yet would not place one peece above but lives In feare of theeves Thousands there were as frantick as himself And hug ' d each one his pelf The down-right Epicure plac'd heav'n in sense And scornd pretence While others slipt into a wide Excesse Said little lesse The weaker sort slight triviall wares Inslave Who think them brave And poor despised truth sate Counting by Their victory 4. Yet some who all this while did weep and sing And sing and weep soar'd up into the Ring But most would use no wing O fools said I thus to prefer dark night Before true light To live in grots and caves and hate the day Because it shews the way The way which from this dead and dark abode Leads up to God A way where you might tread the Sun and be More bright than he But as I did their madnes so discusse One whisper'd thus This Ring the Bride-groome did for none provide But for his bride John Cap. 2. ver. 16 17. All that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the Eys and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world And the world passeth away and the lusts thereof but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever The Mutinie WEary of this same Clay and straw I laid Me down to breath and casting in my heart The after-burthens and griefs yet to come The heavy sum So shook my brest that sick and sore dismai'd My thoughts like water which some stone doth start Did quit their troubled Channel and retire Unto the banks where storming at those bounds They murmur'd sore But I who felt them boyl And knew their Coyl Turning to him who made poor sand to tire And tame proud waves If yet these barren grounds And thirstie brick must be said I My taske and Destinie 2. Let me so strive and struggle with thy foes Not thine alone but mine too that when all Their Arts and force are built unto the height That Babel-weight May prove thy glory and their shame so Close And knit me to thee That though in this vale Of sin and death I sojourn yet one Eie May look to thee To thee the finisher And Author of my faith so shew me home That all this fome And frothie noise which up and down doth flie May find no lodging in mine Eie or Eare O seal them up that these may flie Like other tempests by 3. Not but I know thou hast a shorter Cut To bring me home than through a wildernes A Sea or Sands and Serpents Yet since thou As thy words show Though in this desart I were wholy shut Canst light and lead me there with such redress That no decay shal touch me O be pleas'd To fix my steps and whatsoever path Thy sacred and eternal wil decreed For thy bruis'd reed O give it ful obedience that so seiz'd Of all I have I may nor move thy wrath Nor grieve thy Dove but soft and mild Both live and die thy Child Revel. Cap. 2. ver. 17. To him that overcometh wil I give to eate of the hidden Manna and I wil give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it The Constellation FAir order'd lights whose motion without noise Resembles those true Joys Whose spring is on that hil where you do grow And we here tast sometimes below With what exact obedience do you move Now beneath and now above And in your vast progressions overlook The darkest night and closest nook Some nights I see you in the gladsome East Some others neer the West And when I cannot see yet do you shine And beat about your endles line Silence and light and watchfulnes with you Attend and wind the Clue No sleep nor sloth assailes you but poor man Still either sleeps or slips his span He grops beneath here and with restless Care First makes then hugs a snare Adores dead dust sets heart on Corne and grass But seldom doth make heav'n his glass Musick and mirth if there be musick here Take up and tune his year These things are Kin to him and must be had Who kneels or sighs a life is mad Perhaps some nights hee 'l watch with you and peep When it were best to sleep Dares know Effects and Judge them long before When th' herb he treads knows much much more But seeks he your Obedience Order Light Your calm and wel-train'd flight Where though the glory differ in each star Yet is there peace still and no war Since plac'd by him who calls you by your names And fixt there all your flames Without Command you never acted ought And then you in your Courses fought But here Commission'd by a black self-wil The sons the father kil The Children Chase the mother and would heal The wounds they give by crying zeale Then Cast her bloud and tears upon thy book Where they for fashion look And like that Lamb which had the Dragons voice Seem mild but are known by their noise Thus by our lusts disorder'd into wars Our guides prove wandring stars Which for these mists and black days were reserv'd What time we from our first love swerv'd Yet O for his sake who sits now by thee All crown'd with victory So guide us through this Darknes that we may Be more and more in love with day Settle and fix our hearts that we may move In order peace and love And taught obedience by thy whole Creation Become an humble holy nation Give to thy spouse her perfect and pure dress Beauty and holiness And so repair these Rents that men may see And say Where God is all agree The Shepheards SWeet harmles lives on whose holy leisure Waits Innocence and pleasure Whose leaders to those pastures and cleer springs Were Patriarchs Saints and Kings How happend it that in the dead of night You only saw true light While Palestine was fast a sleep and lay Without one thought of Day Was it because those first and blessed swains Were pilgrims on those plains When they receiv'd the promise for which now ' I was there first shown to you 'T is true he loves that Dust whereon they go That serve him here below And therefore might for memory of those His love there first disclose But wretched Salem once his love must now No voice nor vision know Her stately Piles with all their height and pride Now languished and died And Bethlems humble Cotts above them stept While all her Seers slept Her Cedar firr hew'd stones and gold were all Polluted through their fall And those once sacred mansions were now Meer emptiness and show This made the Angel call at reeds and thatch Yet where the shepheards watch And Gods own lodging though he could not lack To be a common Rack No costly pride no soft-cloath'd luxurie In those thin Cels could lie Each stirring
Authoris de se Emblema TEntasti fateor sine vulnere soepius me Consultū voluit Vox sine voce frequens Ambivit placido divinior aur a meatu Et frustrà sancto murmure praemonuit Sur dus eram mutusqueSilex Tu quanta tuorum Cura tibi est aliâ das renovare viâ Permutas Curam Iamque irritatus Amorem Posse negas vim Vi superare paras Accedis propior molemque Saxea rumpis Pectora fitqueCaro quod fuit ante Lapis En lacerum Coelosque tuos ardentia tandem Fragmenta liquidas ex Adamante genas Sic olim undantes Petras Scopulosque vomentes Curâsti O populi providus usque tui Quam Miranda tibi manus est Moriendo revixi Et fractas jam sum ditior inter opes Silex Scintillans or SACRED POEMS and Private Eiaculations By Henry Vaughan Silurist LONDON Printed by T W. for H. Blunden at ye Castle in Cornehill 1650 The Dedication MY God thou that didst dye for me These thy deaths fruits I offer thee Death that to me was life and light But darke and deep pangs to thy sight Some drops of thy all-quickning bloud Fell on my heart these made it bud And put forth thus though Lord before The ground was curs'd and void of store Indeed I had some here to hire Which long resisted thy desire That ston'd thy Servants and did move To have thee murther'd for thy Love But Lord I have expell'd them and so bent Begge thou wouldst take thy Tenants Rent Silex Scintillans c. Regeneration A Ward and still in bonds one day I stole abroad It was high-spring and all the way Primros'd and hung with shade Yet was it frost within And surly winds Blasted my infant buds and sinne Like Clouds ecclips'd my mind 2. Storm'd thus I straight perceiv'd my spring Meere stage and show My walke a monstrous mountain'd thing Rough-cast with Rocks and snow And as a Pilgrims Eye Far from reliefe Measures the melancholy skye Then drops and rains for griefe 3. So sigh'd I upwards still at last 'Twixt steps and falls I reach'd the pinacle where plac'd I found a paire of scales I tooke them up and layd In th'one late paines The other smoake and pleasures weigh'd But prov'd the heavier graines 4. With that some cryed Away straight I Obey'd and led Full East a faire fresh field could spy Some call'd it Jacobs Bed A Virgin-soile which no Rude feet ere trod Where since he stept there only go Prophets and friends of God 5. Here I repos'd but scarse well set A grove descryed Of stately height whose branches met And mixt on every side I entred and once in Amaz'd to see 't Found all was chang'd and a new spring Did all my senses greet 6. The unthrift Sunne shot vitall gold A thousand peeces And heaven its azure did unfold Checqur'd with snowie fleeces The aire was all in spice And every bush A garland wore Thus fed my Eyes But all the Eare lay hush 7. Only a little Fountain lent Some use for Eares And on the dumbe shades language spent The Musick of her teares I drew her neere and found The Cisterne full Of divers stones some bright and round Others ill-shap'd and dull 8. The first pray marke as quick as light Danc'd through the floud But th' last more heavy then the night Nail'd to the Center stood I wonder'd much but tyr'd At last with thought My restless Eye that still desir'd As strange an object brought 9. It was a banke of flowers where I descried Though 't was mid-day Some fast asleepe others broad-eyed And taking in the Ray Here musing long I heard A rushing wind Which still increas'd but whence it stirr'd No where I could not find 10. I turn'd me round and to each shade Dispatch'd an Eye To see if any leafe had made Least motion or Reply But while I listning sought My mind to ease By knowing where 't was or where not It whisper'd where I please Lord then said I On me one breath And let me dye before my death Cant. Cap. 5. ver. 17. Arise O North and come thou South-wind and blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out Death A Dialogue Soule 'T Is a sad Land that in one day Hath dull'd thee thus when death shall freeze Thy bloud to Ice and thou must stay Tenant for Yeares and Centuries How wilt thou brook 't Body I cannot tell But if all sence wings not with thee And something still be left the dead I 'le wish my Curtaines off to free Me from so darke and sad a bed A neast of nights a gloomie sphere Where shadowes thicken and the Cloud Sits on the Suns brow all the yeare And nothing moves without a shrowd Soule 'T is so But as thou sawest that night Wee travell'd in our first attempts Were dull and blind but Custome straight Our feares and falls brought to contempt Then when the gastly twelve was past We breath'd still for a blushing East And bad the lazie Sunne make hast And on sure hopes though long did feast But when we saw the Clouds to crack And in those Cranies light appear'd We thought the day then was not slack And pleas'd our selves with what wee feard Just so it is in death But thou Shalt in thy mothers bosome sleepe Whilst I each minute grone to know How neere Redemption creepes Then shall wee meet to mixe again and met 'T is last good-night our Sunne shall never set Job Cap 10. ver. 21.22 Before I goe whence I shall not returne even to the land of darknesse and the shadow of death A Land of darknesse as darkenesse it selfe and of the shadow of death without any order and where the light is as darknesse Resurrection and Immortality Heb. cap. 10. ve 20. By that new and living way which he hath prepared for us through the veile which is his flesh Body 1. OFt have I seen when that renewing breath That binds and loosens death Inspir'd a quickning power through the dead Creatures a bed Some drowsie silk-worme creepe From that long sleepe And in weake infant hummings chime and knell About her silent Cell Untill at last full with the vitall Ray She wing'd away And proud with life and sence Heav'ns rich Expence Esteem'd vaine things of two whole Elements As meane and span-extents Shall I then thinke such providence will be Lesse friend to me Or that he can endure to be unjust Who keeps his Covenant even with our dust Soule 2. Poore querulous handfull was 't for this I taught thee all that is Unbowel'd nature shew'd thee her recruits And Change of suits And how of death we make A meere mistake For no thing can to Nothing fall but still Incorporates by skill And then returns and from the wombe of things Such treasure brings As Phenix-like renew'th Both life and youth For a preserving spirit doth still passe Untainted through this Masse Which doth resolve produce and ripen
How like the Eyes quick winke His Cottage failes whose narrow span Begins even at the brink Nine months thy hands are fashioning us And many yeares alas E're we can lisp or ought discusse Concerning thee must passe Yet have I knowne thy slightest things A feather or a shell A stick or Rod which some Chance brings The best of us excell Yea I have knowne these shreds out last A faire-compacted frame And for one Twenty we have past Almost outlive our name Thus hast thou plac'd in mans outside Death to the Common Eye That heaven within him might abide And close eternitie Hence youth and folly mans first shame Are put unto the slaughter And serious thoughts begin to tame The wise-mans-madnes Laughter Dull wretched wormes that would not keepe Within our first faire bed But out of Paradise must creepe For ev'ry foote to tread Yet had our Pilgrimage bin free And smooth without a thorne Pleasures had foil'd Eternitie And â—aâ—e had choakt the Corne Thus by the Crosse Salvation runnes Affliction is a mother Whose painefull throws yield many sons Each fairer than the other A silent teare can peirce thy throne When lowd Joyes want a wing And sweeter aires streame from a grone Than any arted string Thus Lord I see my gaine is great My lesse but little to it Yet something more I must intreate And only thou canst doe it O let me like him know my End And be as glad to find it And whatsoe'r thou shalt Commend Still let thy Servant mind it Then make my soule white as his owne My faith as pure and steddy And deck me Lord with the same Crowne Thou hast crownd him already Vanity of Spirit QUite spent with thoughts I left my Cell and lay Where a shrill spring tun'd to the early day I beg'd here long and gron'd to know Who gave the Clouds so brave a bow Who bent the spheres and circled in Corruption with this glorious Ring What is his name and how I might Descry some part of his great light I summon'd nature peirc'd through all her store Broke up some seales which none had touch'd before Her wombe her bosome and her head Where all her secrets lay a bed I rifled quite and having past Through all the Creatures came at last To search my selfe where I did find Traces and sounds of a strange kind Here of this mighty spring I found some drills With Ecchoes beaten from th' eternall hills Weake beames and fires flash'd to my sight Like a young East or Moone-shine night Wich shew'd me in a nook cast by A peece of much antiquity With Hyerogliphicks quite dismembred And broken letters scarce remembred I tooke them up and much Joy'd went about T' unite those peeces hoping to find out The mystery but this neer done That little light I had was gone It griev'd me much At last said I Since in these veyls my Ecclips'd Eye May not approach thee for at night Who can have commerce with the light I 'le disapparell and to buy But one half glaunce most gladly dye The Retreate HAppy those early dayes when I Shin'd in my Angell-infancy Before I understood this place Appointed for my second race Or taught my soul to fancy ought But a white Celestiall thought When yet I had not walkt above A mile or two from my first love And looking back at that short space Could see a glimpse of his bright-face When on some gilded Cloud or flowre My gazing soul would dwell an houre And in those weaker glories spy Some shadows of eternity Before I taught my tongue to wound My Conscience with a sinfull sound Or had the black art to dispence A sev'rall sinne to ev'ry sence But felt through all this fleshly dresse Bright shootes of everlastingnesse O how I long to travell back And tread again that ancient track That I might once more reach that plaine Where first I left my glorious traine From whence th' Inlightned spirit sees That shady City of Palme trees But ah my soul with too much stay Is drunk and staggers in the way Some men a forward motion love But I by backward steps would move And when this dust falls to the urn In that state I came return COme come what doe I here Since he is gone Each day is grown a dozen year And each houre one Come come Cut off the sum By these soil'd teares Which only thou Know'st to be true Dayes are my feares 2. Ther 's not a wind can stir Or beam passe by But strait I think though far Thy hand is nigh Come come Strike these lips dumb This restles breath That soiles thy name Will ne'r be tame Untill in death 3. Perhaps some think a tombe No house of store But a dark and seal'd up wombe Which ne'r breeds more Come come Such thoughts benum But I would be With him I weep A bed and sleep To wake in thee Midnight WHen to my Eyes Whilst deep sleep others catches Thine hoast of spyes The starres shine in their watches I doe survey Each busie Ray And how they work and wind And wish each beame My soul doth streame With the like ardour shin'd What Emanations Quick vibrations And bright stirs are there What thin Ejections Cold Affections And slow motions here 2. Thy heav'ns some say Are a firie-liquid light Which mingling aye Streames and flames thus to the sight Come then my god Shine on this bloud And water in one beame And thou shalt see Kindled by thee Both liquors burne and streame O what bright quicknes Active brightnes And celestiall flowes Will follow after On that water Which thy spirit blowes Math. Cap. 3. ver. XI I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but he that commeth after me is mightier than I whose shooes I am not worthy to beare he shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire Content PEace peace I know 't was brave But this corse fleece I shelter in is slave To no such peece When I am gone I shall no ward-robes leave To friend or sonne But what their own homes weave 2. Such though not proud nor full May make them weep And mourn to see the wooll Outlast the sheep Poore Pious weare Hadst thou bin rich or fine Perhaps that teare Had mourn'd thy losse not mine 3. Why then these curl'd puff'd points Or a laced story Death sets all out of Joint And scornes their glory Some Love a Rose In hand some in the skin But crosse to those I would have mine within JOy of my life while left me here And still my Love How in thy absence thou dost steere Me from above A life well lead This truth commends With quick or dead It never ends 2. Stars are of mighty use The night Is dark and long The Rode foul and where one goes right Six may go wrong One twinkling ray Shot o'r some cloud May clear much way And guide a croud 3. Gods Saints are shining lights who stays Here long must passe
faithfull grave Thus Lazarus was carried out of town For 't is our foes chief art By distance all good objects first to drown And then besiege the heart But I will be my own Deaths-head and though The flatt'rer say I live Because Incertainties we cannot know Be sure not to believe Peace MY Soul there is a Countrie Far beyond the stars Where stands a winged Centrie All skilfull in the wars There above noise and danger Sweet peace sits crown'd with smiles And one born in a Manger Commands the Beauteous files He is thy gracious friend And O my Soul awake Did in pure love descend To die here for thy sake If thou canst get but thither There growes the flowre of peace The Rose that cannot wither Thy fortresse and thy ease Leave then thy foolish ranges For none can thee secure But one who never changes Thy God thy life thy Cure The Passion O My chief good My dear dear God! When thy blest bloud Did Issue forth forc'd by the Rod What pain didst thou Feel in each blow How didst thou weep And thy self steep In thy own precious saving teares What cruell smart Did teare thy heart How didst thou grone it In the spirit O thou whom my soul Loves and feares 2. Most blessed Vine Whose juice so good I feel as Wine But thy faire branches felt as bloud How wert thou prest To be my feast In what deep anguish Didst thou languish What springs of Sweat and bloud did drown thee How in one path Did the full wrath Of thy great Father Crowd and gather Doubling thy griefs when none would own thee 3. How did the weight Of all our sinnes And death unite To wrench and Rack thy blessed limbes How pale and bloudie Lookt thy Body How bruis'd and broke With every stroke How meek and patient was thy spirit How didst thou cry And grone on high Father forgive And let them live I dye to make my foes inherit 4. O blessed Lamb That took'st my sinne That took'st my shame How shall thy dust thy praises sing I would I were One hearty tear One constant spring Then would I bring Thee two small mites and be at strife Which should most vie My heart or eye Teaching my years In smiles and tears To weep to sing thy Death my Life Rom. Cap. 8. ver. 19. Etenim res Creatae exerto Capite observantes expectant revelationem Filiorum Dei ANd do they so have they a Sense Of ought but Influence Can they their heads lift and expect And grone too why th' Elect Can do no more my volumes sed They were all dull and dead They judg'd them senslesse and their state Wholly Inanimate Go go Seal up thy looks And burn thy books 2. I would I were a stone or tree Or flowre by pedigree Or some poor high-way herb or Spring To flow or bird to sing Then should I tyed to one sure state All day expect my date But I am sadly loose and stray A giddy blast each way O let me not thus range Thou canst not change 3. Sometimes I fit with thee and tarry An hour or so then vary Thy other Creatures in this Scene Thee only aym and mean Some rise to seek thee and with heads Erect peep from their beds Others whose birth is in the tomb And cannot quit the womb Sigh there and grone for thee Their liberty 4. O let not me do lesse shall they Watch while I sleep or play Shall I thy mercies still abuse With fancies friends or newes O brook it not thy bloud is mine And my soul should be thine O brook it not why wilt thou stop After whole showres one drop Sure thou wilt joy to see Thy sheep with thee The Relapse MY God how gracious art thou I had slipt Almost to hell And on the verge of that dark dreadful pit Did hear them yell But O thy love thy rich almighty love That sav'd my soul And checkt their furie when I saw them move And heard them howl O my sole Comfort take no more these wayes This hideous path And I wil mend my own without delayes Cease thou thy wrath I have deserv'd a thick Egyptian damp Dark as my deeds Should mist within me and put out that lamp Thy spirit feeds A darting Conscience full of stabs and fears No shade but Yewgh Sullen and sad Ecclipses Cloudie spheres These are my due But he that with his bloud a price too deere My scores did pay Bid me by vertue from him chalenge here The brightest day Sweet downie thoughts soft Lilly-shades Calm streams Joyes full and true Fresh spicie mornings and eternal beams These are his due The Resolve I Have consider'd it and find A longer stay Is but excus'd neglect To mind One path and stray Into another or to none Cannot be love When shal that traveller come home That will not move If thou wouldst thither linger not Catch at the place Tell youth and beauty they must rot They 'r but a Case Loose parcell'd hearts wil freeze The Sun With scatter'd locks Scarce warms but by contraction Can heat rocks Call in thy Powers run and reach Home with the light Be there before the shadows stretch And Span up night Follow the Cry no more there is An ancient way All strewed with flowres and happiness And fresh as May There turn and turn no more Let wits Smile at fair eies Or lips But who there weeping sits Hath got the Prize The Match DEar friend whose holy ever-living lines Have done much good To many and have checkt my blood My fierce wild blood that still heaves and inclines But is still tam'd By those bright fires which thee inflam'd Here I joyn hands and thrust my stubborn heart Into thy Deed There from no Duties to be freed And if hereafter youth or folly thwart And claim their share Here I renounce the pois'nous ware ii ACcept dread Lord the poor Oblation It is but poore Yet through thy Mercies may be more O thou that canst not wish my souls damnation Afford me life And save me from all inward strife Two Lifes I hold from thee my gracious Lord Both cost thee deer For one I am thy Tenant here The other the true life in the next world And endless is O let me still mind that in this To thee therefore my Thoughts Words Actions I do resign Thy will in all be done not mine Settle my house and shut out all distractions That may unknit My heart and thee planted in it Lord Jesu thou didst bow thy blessed head Upon a tree O do as much now unto me O hear and heal thy servant Lord strike dead All lusts in me Who onely wish life to serve thee Suffer no more this dust to overflow And drown my eies But seal or pin them to thy skies And let this grain which here in tears I sow Though dead and sick Through thy Increase grow new and quick Rules and Lessons WHen first thy Eies unveil give thy Soul
leave To do the like our Bodies but forerun The spirits duty True hearts spread and heave Unto their God as flow'rs do to the Sun Give him thy first thoughts then so shalt thou keep Him company all day and in him sleep Yet never sleep the Sun up Prayer shou'd Dawn with the day There are set awful hours 'Twixt heaven and us The Manna was not good After Sun-rising far-day sullies flowres Rise to prevent the Sun sleep doth sins glut And heav'ns gate opens when this world 's is shut Walk with thy fellow-creatures note the hush And whispers amongst them There 's not a Spring Or Leafe but hath his Morning-hymn Each Bush And Oak doth know I AM canst thou not sing O leave thy Cares and follies go this way And thou art sure to prosper all the day Serve God before the world let him not go Until thou hast a blessing then resigne The whole unto him and remember who Prevail'd by wrestling ere the Sun did shine Poure Oyle upon the stones weep for thy sin Then journey on and have an eie to heav'n Mornings are Mysteries the first worlds Youth Mans Resurrection and the futures Bud Shrowd in their births The Crown of life light truth Is stil'd their starre the stone and hidden food Three blessings wait upon them two of which Should move They make us holy happy rich When the world 's up and ev'ry swarm abroad Keep thou thy temper mix not with each Clay Dispatch necessities life hath a load Which must be carri'd on and safely may Yet keep those cares without thee let the heart Be Gods alone and choose the better part Through all thy Actions Counsels and Discourse Let Mildness and Religion guide thee out If truth be thine what needs a brutish force But what 's not good and just ne'r go about Wrong not thy Conscience for a rotten stick That gain is dreadful which makes spirits sick To God thy Countrie and thy friend be true If Priest and People change keep thou thy ground Who sels Religion is a Judas Jew And oathes once broke the soul cannot be sound The perjurer's a devil let loose what can Tie up his hands that dares mock God and man Seek not the same steps with the Crowd stick thou To thy sure trot a Constant humble mind Is both his own Joy and his Makers too Let folly dust it on or lag behind A sweet self-privacy in a right soul Out-runs the Earth and lines the utmost pole To all that seek thee bear an open heart Make not thy breast a Labyrinth or Trap If tryals come this wil make good thy part For honesty is safe come what can hap It is the good mans feast The prince of flowres Which thrives in storms and smels best after showres Seal not thy Eyes up from the poor but give Proportion to their Merits and thy Purse Thou mai'st in Rags a mighty Prince relieve Who when thy sins call for 't can fence a Curse Thou shalt not lose one mite Though waters stray The Bread we cast returns in fraughts one day Spend not an hour so as to weep another For tears are not thine own If thou giv'st words Dash not thy friend nor Heav'n O smother A vip'rous thought some Syllables are Swords Unbitted tongues are in their penance double They shame their owners and the hearers trouble Injure not modest bloud whose spirits rise In judgement against Lewdness that 's base wit That voyds but filth and stench Hast thou no prize But sickness or Infection stiflle it Who makes his jests of sins must be at least If not a very devill worse than a Beast Yet fly no friend if he be such indeed But meet to quench his Longings and thy Thirst Allow your Joyes Religion That done speed And bring the same man back thou wert all first Who so returns not cannot pray aright But shuts his door and leaves God out all night To highten thy Devotions and keep low All mutinous thoughts what busines e'r thou hast Observe God in his works here fountains flow Birds sing Beasts feed Fish leap and th' Earth stands fast Above are restles motions running Lights Vast Circling Azure giddy Clouds days nights When Seasons change then lay before thine Eys His wondrous Method mark the various Scenes In heav'n Hail Thunder Rain-bows Snow and Ice Calmes Tempests Light and darknes by his means Thou canst not misse his Praise Each tree herb flowre Are shadows of his wisedome and his Pow'r To meales when thou doest come give him the praise Whose Arm supply'd thee Take what may suffice And then be thankful O admire his ways Who fils the worlds unempty'd granaries A thankles feeder is a Theif his feast A very Robbery and himself no guest High-noon thus past thy time decays provide Thee other thoughts Away with friends and mirth The Sun now stoops and hasts his beams to hide Under the dark and melancholy Earth All but preludes thy End Thou art the man Whose Rise hight and Descent is but a span Yet set as he doth and 't is well Have all Thy Beams home with thee trim thy Lamp buy Oyl And then set forth who is thus drest The Fall Furthers his glory and gives death the foyl Man is a Summers day whose youth and fire Cool to a glorious Evening and Expire When night comes list thy deeds make plain the way 'Twixt Heaven and thee block it not with delays But perfect all before thou sleep'st Then say Ther 's one Sun more strung on my Bead of days What 's good score up for Joy The bad wel scann'd Wash off with tears and get thy Masters hand Thy Accounts thus made spend in the grave one houre Before thy time Be not a stranger there Where thou may'st sleep whole ages Lifes poor flowr Lasts not a night sometimes Bad spirits fear This Coversation But the good man lyes Intombed many days before he dyes Being laid and drest for sleep Close not thy Eys Up with thy Curtains Give thy soul the wing In some good thoughts So when the day shall rise And thou unrak'st thy fire those sparks will bring New flames Besides where these lodge vain heats mourn And die That Bush where God is shall not burn When thy Nap 's over stir thy fire unrake In that dead age one beam i' th' dark outvies Two in the day Then from the Damps and Ake Of night shut up thy leaves be Chast God prys Through thickest nights Though then the Sun be far Do thou the works of Day and rise a Star Briefly Doe as thou would'st be done unto Love God and Love thy Neighbour Watch and Pray These are the Words and Works of life This do And live who doth not thus hath lost Heav'ns way O lose it not look up wilt Change those Lights For Chains of Darknes and Eternal Nights Corruption SUre It was so Man in those early days Was not all stone and Earth He shin'd a little and by those weak Rays
his short hour Must he nor sip nor sing grows ne'r a flowr To crown his temples shal dreams be his law O foolish man how hast thou lost thy sight How is it that the Sun to thee alone Is grown thick darkness and thy bread a stone Hath flesh no softness now mid-day no light Lord thou didst put a soul here If I must Be broke again for flints will give no fire Without a steel O let thy power cleer Thy gift once more and grind this flint to dust Retirement WHo on yon throne of Azure sits Keeping close house Above the morning-starre Whose meaner showes And outward utensils these glories are That shine and share Part of his mansion He one day When I went quite astray Out of meer love By his mild Dove Did shew me home and put me in the way 2. Let it suffice at length thy fits And lusts said he Have had their wish and way Presse not to be Still thy own foe and mine for to this day I did delay And would not see but chose to wink Nay at the very brink And edge of all When thou wouldst fall My love-twist held thee up my unseen link 3. I know thee well for I have fram'd And hate thee not Thy spirit too is mine I know thy lot Extent and end for my hands drew the line Assigned thine If then thou would'st unto my seat 'T is not th' applause and feat Of dust and clay Leads to that way But from those follies a resolv'd Retreat 4. Now here below where yet untam'd Thou doest thus rove I have a house as well As there above In it my Name and honour both do dwell And shall untill I make all new there nothing gay In perfumes or Array Dust lies with dust And hath but just The same Respect and room with ev'ry clay 5. A faithful school where thou maist see In Heraldrie Of stones and speechless Earth Thy true descent Where dead men preach who can turn feasts and mirth To funerals and Lent There dust that out of doors might fill Thy eies and blind thee still Is fast asleep Up then and keep Within those doors my doors dost hear I will Love and Discipline SInce in a land not barren stil Because thou dost thy grace distil My lott is faln Blest be thy will And since these biting frosts but kil Some tares in me which choke or spil That seed thou sow'st Blest be thy skil Blest be thy Dew and blest thy frost And happy I to be so crost And cur'd by Crosses at thy cost The Dew doth Cheer what is distrest The frosts ill weeds nip and molest In both thou work'st unto the best Thus while thy sev'ral mercies plot And work on me now cold now hot The work goes on and slacketh not For as thy hand the weather steers So thrive I best 'twixt joyes and tears And all the year have some grean Ears The Pilgrimage AS travellours when the twilight 's come And in the sky the stars appear The past daies accidents do summe With Thus wee saw there and thus here Then Jacob-like lodge in a place A place and no more is set down Where till the day restore the race They rest and dream homes of their own So for this night I linger here And full of tossings too and fro Expect stil when thou wilt appear That I may get me up and go I long and grone and grieve for thee For thee my words my tears do gush O that I were but where I see Is all the note within my Bush As Birds rob'd of their native wood Although their Diet may be fine Yet neither sing nor like their food But with the thought of home do pine So do I mourn and hang my head And though thou dost me fullnes give Yet look I for far better bread Because by this man cannot live O feed me then and since I may Have yet more days more nights to Count So strengthen me Lord all the way That I may travel to thy Mount Heb. Cap. xi ver. 13. And they Confessed thus they were strangers and Pilgrims on the earth The Law and the Gospel LOrd when thou didst on Sinai pitch And shine from Paran when a firie Law Pronounc'd with thunder and thy threats did thaw Thy Peoples hearts when all thy weeds were rich And Inaccessible for light Terrour and might How did poor flesh which after thou didst weare Then faint and fear Thy Chosen flock like leafs in a high wind Whisper'd obedience and their heads Inclin'd 2. But now since we to Sion came And through thy bloud thy glory see With filial Confidence we touch ev'n thee And where the other mount all clad in flame And threatning Clouds would not so much As ' bide the touch We Climb up this and have too all the way Thy hand our stay Nay thou tak'st ours and which ful Comfort brings Thy Dove too bears us on her sacred wings 3. Yet since man is a very brute And after all thy Acts of grace doth kick Slighting that health thou gav'st when he was sick Be not displeas'd If I who have a sute To thee each houre beg at thy door For this one more O plant in me thy Gospel and thy Law Both Faith and Awe So twist them in my heart that ever there I may as wel as Love find too thy fear 4. Let me not spil but drink thy bloud Not break thy fence and by a black Excess Force down a Just Curse when thy hands would bless Let me not scatter and despise my food Or nail those blessed limbs again Which bore my pain So Shall thy mercies flow for while I fear I know thou 'lt bear But should thy mild Injunction nothing move me I would both think and Judge I did not love thee John Cap. 14. ver. 15. If ye love me keep my Commandements The World I Saw Eternity the other night Like a great Ring of pure and endless light All calm as it was bright And round beneath it Time in hours days years Driv'n by the spheres Like a vast shadow mov'd In which the world And all her train were hurl'd The doting Lover in his queintest strain Did their Complain Neer him his Lute his fancy and his flights Wits so our delights With gloves and knots the silly snares of pleasure Yet his dear Treasure All scatter'd lay while he his eys did pour Upon a flowr 2. The darksome States-man hung with weights and woe Like a thick midnight-fog mov'd there so slow He did nor stay nor go Condemning thoughts like sad Ecclipses scowl Upon his soul And Clouds of crying witnesses without Pursued him with one shout Yet dig'd the Mole and lest his ways be found Workt under ground Where he did Clutch his prey but one did see That policie Churches and altars fed him Perjuries Were gnats and flies It rain'd about him bloud and tears but he Drank them as free 3. The fearfull miser on a heap of rust Sate
so true Such perfect Ease and such a lively sense Of grace against all sins That you 'l Confess the Comfort such as even Brings to and comes from Heaven Mount of Olives WHen first I saw true beauty and thy Joys Active as light and calm without all noise Shin'd on my soul I felt through all my powr's Such a rich air of sweets as Evening showrs Fand by a gentle gale Convey and breath On some parch'd bank crown'd with a flowrie wreath Odors and Myrth and balm in one rich floud O'r-ran my heart and spirited my bloud My thoughts did swim in Comforts and mine eie Confest The world did only paint and lie And where before I did no safe Course steer But wander'd under tempests all the year Went bleak and bare in body as in mind And was blow'n through by ev'ry storm and wind I am so warm'd now by this glance on me That midst all storms I feel a Ray of thee So have I known some beauteous Paisage rise In suddain flowres and arbours to my Eies And in the depth and dead of winter bring To my Cold thoughts a lively sense of spring Thus fed by thee who dost all beings nourish My wither'd leafs again look green and flourish I shine and shelter underneath thy wing Where sick with love strive thy name to sing Thy glorious name which grant I may so do That these may be thy Praise and my Joy too Man WEighing the stedfastness and state Of some mean things which here below reside Where birds like watchful Clocks the noiseless date And Intercourse of times divide Where Bees at night get home and hive and flowrs Early aswel as late Rise with the Sun and set in the same bowrâ— 2. I would said I my God would give The staidness of these things to man for these To his divine appointments ever cleave And no new business breaks their peace The birds nor sow nor reap yet sup and dine The flowres without clothes live Yet Solomon was never drest so fine 3. Man hath stil either toyes or Care He hath no root nor to one place is ty'd But ever restless and Irregular About this Earth doth run and ride He knows he hath a home but scarce knows where He sayes it is so far That he hath quite forgot how to go there 4. He knocks at all doors strays and roams Nay hath not so much wit as some stones have Which in the darkest nights point to their homes By some hid sense their Maker gave Man is the shuttle to whose winding quest And passage through these looms God order'd motion but ordain'd no rest I Walkt the other day to spend my hour Into a field Where I sometimes had seen the soil to yield A gallant flowre But Winter now had ruffled all the bowre And curious store I knew there heretofore 2. Yet I whose search lov'd not to peep and peer I' th' face of things Thought with my self there might be other springs Besides this here Which like cold friends sees us but once a year And so the flowre Might have some other bowre 3. Then taking up what I could neerest spie I digg'd about That place where I had seen him to grow out And by and by I saw the warm Recluse alone to lie Where fresh and green He lived of us unseen 4. Many a question Intricate and rare Did I there strow But all I could extort was that he now Did there repair Such losses as befel him in this air And would e'r long Come forth most fair and young 5. This past I threw the Clothes quite o'r his head And stung with fear Of my own frailty dropt down many a tear upon his bed Then sighing whisper'd Happy are the dead What peace doth now Rock him asleep below 6. And yet how few believe such doctrine springs From a poor root Which all the Winter sleeps here under foot And hath no wings To raise it to the truth and light of things But is stil trod By ev'ry wandring clod 7. O thou whose spirit did at first inflame And warm the dead And by a sacred Incubation fed With life this frame Which once had neither being forme nor name Grant I may so Thy steps track here below 8. That in these Masques and shadows I may see Thy sacred way And by those hid ascents climb to that day Which breaks from thee Who art in all things though invisibly Shew me thy peace Thy mercy love and ease 9. And from this Care where dreams and sorrows raign Lead me above Where Light Joy Leisure and true Comforts move Without all pain There hid in thee shew me his life again At whose dumbe urn Thus all the year I mourn Begging KIng of Mercy King of Love In whom I live in whom I move Perfect what thou hast begun Let no night put out this Sun Grant I may my chief desire Long for thee to thee aspire Let my youth my bloom of dayes Be my Comfort and thy praise That hereafter when I look O'r the sullyed sinful book I may find thy hand therein Wiping out my shame and sin O it is thy only Art To reduce a stubborn heart And since thine is victorie Strong holds should belong to thee Lord then take it leave it not Unto my dispose or lot But since I would not have it mine O my God let it be thine Jude ver. 24 25. Now unto him that is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy To the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty Dominion and power now and ever Amen FINIS * A wel in the South Country where Jacob dwelt betweene Cadesh Bered Heb. the wel of him that liveth and seeth me Body Soul Body Soul * Light Motion heat