great and substantial is To think is but to see good cause to grieve 'T is well I 'm mortal 't is well I shortly must Lose all the thoughts of Eden in the dust Senseless and thoughtless now I 'd be I 'd lose even my self since I 've lost thee To Sleep I. BReak off thy slumber gentle god And hither bring thy charming rod The rod that weeping eyes does close And gives to melancholy hearts repose With that my temples stroke and let me be Held by thy soft Captivity But do not all my senses bind Nor fetter up too close my mind Let mimic Fancy wake and freely rove And bring th' Idea of the Saint I love II. Her lovely image has been brought So often to my waking thought That 't is at length worn out and dead And with its fair Original is fled Or else my working overthoughtful mind With much intention is made blind Like those who look on Objects bright So long till they quite lose their sight Ah Cruel Fates is 't not enough for you To take my Saint but I must lose her Image too III. Thee gentle Charmer I implore This my lost Treasure to restore Thy magic vertues all apply Set up again my Bank-rupt memory Search every Cell and corner of my brain And bring my Fugitive again To thy dark cave thy self betake And 'mong thy Dreams enquiry make Summon thy best Ideas to appear And bring that Form which most resembles her IV. But if in all thy store there be None as I fear so fair as she Then let thy Painter Fancy limn Her Form anew and send it by a Dream Thou can'st him all her lively Features tell For sure I think thou knew'st her well But if description wont suffice For him to draw a Piece so nice Then let him to my Breast and Heart repair For sure her Image is not worn out there The Grant. I. 'T Was when the Tide of the returning day Began to chase ill forms away When pious dreams the sense imploy And all within is Innocence and Joy My melancholy thoughtful mind O'recome at length to sleep resign'd Not common sleep for I was blest With something more divine more sweet than rest II. She who her fine-wrought clay had lately left Of whose sweet form I was bereft Was by kind Fancy to me brought And made the Object of my happy thought Clad she was all in virgin white And shone with Empyreal light A radiant glory crown'd her head She stream'd with Light and Love and thus she said III. And why this grief and Passion for the Blest Let all your sorrows with me rest My state is Bliss but I should live Yet much more happy would you cease to grieve Dry up your tears Dear Friend and be Happy in my Felicity By this your wisdom you 'l approve Nay what you 'd most of all commend your Love. IV. She spake dissolv'd I lay and overcome And was with extasy struck dumb But ah the fierce tumultuous joy It s own weak being hastned to destroy To see that lovely Form appear My spirits in such commotion were Sleep could no more their force controul They shook their fetters off free'd my unwilling Soul. V. What Bliss do we oft to Deluston owe Who would not still be cheated so Opinion's an Ingredient That goes so far to make up true content That even a Dream of Happiness With real joy the Soul does bless Let me but always dream of this And I will envy none their waking Bliss The Aspiration I. HOw long great God how long must I Immured in this dark Prison lye Where at the Grates and Avenues of sense My Soul must watch to have intelligence Where but faint gleams of thee salute my sight Like doubtful Moonshine in a Cloudy night When shall I leave this magic Sphere And be all mind all eye all ear II. How Cold this Clime I and yet my sense Perceives even here thy influence Even here thy strong Magnetic charms I feel And pant and tremble like the Amorous steel To lower good and Beautys less Divine Sometimes my erroneous Needle does decline But yet so strong the sympathy It turns and points again to thee III. I long to see this Excellence Which at such distance strikes my sense My impatient Soul struggles to disengage Her wings from the confinement of her cage Wouldst thou great Love this Prisoner once set free How would she hasten to be linkt to thee She 'd for no Angels conduct stay But fly and love on all the way The Defence I. THat I am colder in my Friendship grown My Faith and Constancy you blame But sure th' inconstancy is all your own I am but you are not the same The flame of love must needs expire If you substract what should maintain the fire II. While to the Laws of Vertue you were true You had and might retain my heart Now give me leave to turn Apostate too Since you do from your self depart Thus the Reform'd are counted free From Schism tho they desert the Roman See. III. The strictest union to be found below Is that which Soul and Body tyes They all the Mysterys of Friendship know And with each other sympathize And yet the Soul will bid adieu T' her much distemper'd mate as I leave you The Retractation I. I 'Ve often charg'd all sublunary bliss With vanity and emptiness You woods and streams have heard me oft complain How all things how even your delights were vain Methought I could with one short simple view Glance o're all human joys and see them through But now great Preacher pardon me I cannot wholly to thy charge agree For Music sure and Friendship have no vanity II. No each of these is a firm massy joy Which tho eternal will not cloy Here may the Venturous Soul love on and find Grasp what she can that more remains behind Such Depths of joy these living springs contain As man t' eternity can never drain These Sweets the truth of Heaven prove Only there 's greater Bliss with Saints above Because they 've better Music there and firmer love The Prospect I. WHat a strange moment will that be My Soul how full of Curiosity When winged and ready for thy eternal flight To th' utmost edges of thy tottering Clay Hovering and wishing longer stay Thou shalt advance and have Eternity in sight When just about to try that unknown Sea What a strange moment will that be II. But yet how much more strange that state When loosen'd from th' embrace of this close mate Thou shalt at once be plunged in liberty And move as swift and active as a Ray Shot from the lucid spring of day Thou who just now wast clogg'd with dull mortality How wilt thou bear the mighty change how know Whether thou' rt then the same or no! III. Then to strange Mansions of the air And stranger Company must thou repair What a new Scene of things will then appear This world
in the enjoyment 16. From these and the like Considerations I think it will evidently appear that this perfect Happiness is not to be found in any thing we can enjoy in this Life Wherein then does it consist I answer positively in the full and entire Fruition of God. He as Plato speaks is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Proper and Principal end of Man the Center of our Tendency the Ark of our Rest He is the Object which alone can satisfy the appetite of the most Capacious Soul and stand the Test of Fruition to Eternity And to enjoy him fully is perfect Felicity This in general is no more than what is deliver'd to us in Scripture and was believ'd by many of the Heathen Philosophers But the manner of this Fruition requires a more particular Consideration Much is said by the Schoolmen upon this Subject whereof in the first place I shall give a short and methodical account and then fix upon the Opinion which I best approve of The first thing that I observe is that 't is generally agreed upon among them that this Fruition of God consists in some Operation and I think with very good Reason For as by the Objective part of perfect Happiness we understand that which is best and last and to which all other things are to be referr'd So by the Formal part of it must be understood the best and last Habitude of Man toward that best Object so that the Happiness may both ways satisfy the Appetite that is as 't is the best thing and as 't is the Possession Use or Fruition of that best thing Now this habitude whereby the best thing is perfectly possess'd must needs be some Operation because Operation is the ultimate perfection of every Being Which Axion as Cajetan well observes must not be so understood as if Operation taken by it self were more perfect than the thing which tends to it but that every thing with its Operation is more perfect than without it 17. The next thing which I observe is that 't is also farther agreed upon among them that this Operation wherein our Fruition of God does consist is an Operation of the Intellectual part and not of the Sensitive And this also I take to be very reasonable First because 't is generally receiv'd that the Essence of God cannot be the Object of any of our Senses But Secondly Suppose it could yet since this Operation wherein our perfect Happiness does consist must be the perfectest Operation and since that of the Intellectual part is more perfect than that of the Sensitive it follows that the Operation whereby we enjoy God must be that of the Intellectual part only 18. But now whereas the Intellectual part of man as 't is opposed to the Sensitive is double viz. That of the Vnderstanding and that of the Will there has commenced a great Controversy between the Thomists and the Scotists in which Act or Operation of the Rational Soul the Fruition of God does consist whether in an Act of the Vnderstanding or in an Act of the Will. The Thomists will have it consist purely in an Act of the Vnderstanding which is Vision The Scotists in the Act of the Will which is Love. I intend not here to launch out into those Voluminous Intricacies and Abstrusities occasioned by the management of this Argument It may suffice to tell you that I think they are both in the extream and therefore I shall take the middle way and resolve the perfect Fruition of God partly into Vision and partly into Love. These are the two arms with which we embrace the Divinity and unite our Souls to the fair one and the good These I conceive are both so essential to the perfect Fruition of God that the Idea of it can by no means be maintained if either of them be wanting For since God is both Supream Truth and infinite Goodness he cannot be entirely possess'd but by the most clear knowledg and the most ardent love And besides since the Soul is happy by her Faculties her Happiness must consist in the most perfect Operation of each Faculty For if Happiness did consist formally in the sole Operation of the Vnderstanding as most say or in the sole Operation of the Will as others the Man would not be compleatly and in all respects Happy For how is it possible a Man should be perfectly Happy in loving the greatest good if he did not know it or in knowing it if he did not love it And moreover these two Operations do so mutually tend to the promotion and conservation of one another that upon this depends the perpetuity and the constancy of our Happiness For while the Blessed do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Face to Face contemplate the Supream Truth and the infinite Goodness they cannot chuse but love perpetually and while they perpetually love they cannot chuse but perpetually contemplate And in this mutual reciprocation of the Actions of the Soul consists the perpetuity of Heaven the Circle of Felicity 19. Besides this way of resolving our fruition of God into Vision and Love there is a famous Opinion said to be broacht by Henricus Gandavensis who upon a Supposition that God could not be so fully enjoy'd as is required to perfect Happiness only by the Operations or Powers of the Soul fancied a certain Illapse whereby the Divine Essence did fall in with and as it were penetrate the Essence of the Blessed Which Opinion he endeavours to illustrate by this Similitude That as a piece of Iron red hot by reason of the Illapse of the fire into it appears all over like fire so the Souls of the Blessed by this Illapse of the Divine Essence into them shall be all over Divine 20. I think he has scarce any followers in this Opinion but I am sure he had a leader For this is no more than what Plato taught before him as is to be seen in his Discourses about the refusion of the Souls of good men into the Anima Mundi which is the self-same in other terms with this Opinion And the Truth of what I affirm may farther appear from an expression of that great Platonist Plotinus viz. that the Soul will then be Happy when it shall depart hence to God and as another and no longer her self shall become wholly his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having joyn'd her self to him as a Center to a Center 21. That such an intimate Conjunction with God as is here described is possible seems to me more than credible from the Nature of the Hypostatic Union but whether our Fruition of God after this Life shall consist in it none know but those happy Souls who enjoy him and therefore I shall determine nothing before the time This only I observe that should our Fruition of God consist in such an Union or rather Penetration of Essences that would not exclude but rather infer those Operations of Vision and Love as necessary to Fruition but on the
lower holds could save no more On th' utmost Bough th' astonish'd Sinners stood And view'd th' advances of th' encroaching Flood O're-topp'd at length by th' Element's encrease With horrour they resign'd to the untry'd Abyss The Irreconcilable I. I Little thought my Damon once that you Could prove and what is more to me untrue Can I forget such Treachery and Live Mercy it self would not this Crime forgive Heaven's Gates refuse to let Apostates in No that 's the Great unpardonable Sin. II. Did you not vow by all the Powers above That you could none but dear Orinda love Did you not swear by all that is Divine That you would only be and ever mine You did and yet you live securely too And think that Heaven's false as well as you III. Believe me Love 's a thing much too divine Thus to be Ape'd and made a mere design 'T is no less Crime than Treason here to feign 'T is Counterfeiting of a Royal Coin. But ah Hypocrisy's no where so common grown As in Most Sacred things Love and Religion IV. Go seek new Conquests go you have my leave You shall not Grieve her whom you could deceive I don't lament but pitty what you do Nor take that Love as lost which ne'r was true The way that 's left you to befriend my Fate Is now to prove more constant in your Hate The Advice Prudens futuri temporis exitum Caliginosa nocte premit Deus Hor. I. WHat 's forming in the Womb of fate Why art thou so Concern'd to know Dost think 't wou'd be advantage to thy state But Wiser Heaven does not think it so With thy Content thou would'st this Knowledge buy No part of life thou'dst pleasant find For dread of what thou see st behind Tho would'st but tast of the inlightning fruit and Dye II. Well then has Heaven events to Come Hid with the blackest Veil of night But still in vain if we forestall our doom And with Prophetic fears our selves affright Grand folly whether thus 't will be or no We Know not and yet silly Man Secures his evills what he can And stabbs himself with Grief lest Fate should miss the Blow III. Be wise and let it be thy Care To manage well the present hour Call home thy ranging thoughts and fix them here This only mind this only's in thy power The rest no settled Steddy course maintain Like Rivers which now gently slide Within their bounds now with full Tide O'reflow whom houses cattle trees resist in vain IV. 'T is He that 's happy He alone Lives free and pleasant that can say With every period of the setting Sun I 've lived and run my race like him to day To Morrow let the angry Heavens frown Or Smile with influence more kind On Chance depends what 's yet behind But sure what I have seiz'd already 's all my own V. Fortune who no diversion knows Like disappointment laughs to see How Variously she can her gifts Transpose Sometimes to one sometimes t' another free Be sure t' enjoy her while she 's pleas'd to stay But if for flight she does prepare Don't you at parting drop a tear But hold your Vertue fast for that alone you may To himself I. NOt yet Convinc'd why wilt thou still pursue Through natures field delusive Bliss 'T is false or else too fugitive if true Thou may'st assoon thy Shadow overtake as this The gaudy Light still dances in thy eye Thou hot and eager in the Chase Art drawn through many a thorny rugged place Still languishing and sighing but can'st ne re come nigh II. Give o're my Soul give o're nor strive again This treacherous Chymic gold to find Tell me why should'st thou fancy there remain Days yet to come more sweet than those thou 'st left behind A wiser Chymist far then thou t' obtain This Jewell all his treasures spent But yet he fail'd in 's grand Experiment And all he gain'd was this to know that all was vain III. Forbear and at another's Cost be wise Nor longer this Coy Mistress woo He 's mad that runs where none can win the prize Why should'st thou lose thy Mistress and thy labour too Heaven does but sport with our Simplicity By laying Jewells in our way For when we stoop to seize the glittering prey They 'r snatch't away again and baulk our greedy eye IV. 'T is so the Choicest good this world can give Will never stand Fruition's Test This all by experience find yet few believe And in the midst of Cheats hope they shall once be blest Strange Magic this So Witches tho they find No Comfort from their airy meat Forget at next Cabal their slender treat And greedily again fall to their feast of Wind. V. But thou my Soul thy strong Conviction shew And never reach at Bliss again Our best good here is Nature's bounds to know And those attempts to spare which else would be in vain Here then Contain thy self nor higher good In this inchanted place pursue And pitty those shortsighted Souls that do This World is best enjoy'd when 't is best understood The Refusal I. THink not to Court me from my dear Retreat No I protest 't is all in vain My Stars did never mean I should be great And I the very thought disdain Or if they did their will I 'le disobey And in my little Orb remain as Fix'd as they II. Honour that Idol which the Most adore Receives no Homage from my Knee Content in privacy I value more Than all uneasy Dignity How should that Empty thing deserve my Care Which Vertue does not need and Vice can never bear III. Shall I change solid and unenvy'd joys Of a Serene tho humble state For splendid trouble pomp and senseless noise This I despise as well as hate Poor gain of that Condition which will be Envy'd by others and as much dislik'd by me Hymn to Darkness I. HAil thou most sacred Venerable thing What Muse is worthy thee to sing Thee from whose pregnant universal womb All things even Light thy Rival first did Come What dares he not attempt that sings of thee Thou First and greatest Mystery Who can the Secrets of thy essence tell Thou like the light of God art inaccessible II. Before Great Love this Monument did raise This ample Theater of Praise Before the folding Circles of the Skie Were tuned by him who is all Harmony Before the Morning Stars their Hymn began Before the Councel held for Man. Before the birth of either Time or Place Thou reign st unquestion'd Monarch in the empty Space III. Thy native lot thou didst to light resign But still half of the Globe is thine Here with a quiet but yet awefull hand Like the best Emperours thou dost command To thee the Stars above their brightness owe And mortals their repose below To thy protection Fear and Sorrow â—lee And those that weary are of light find rest in thee IV. Tho Light and Glory be th' Almighty's Throne
But when thou' rt driven by too officious gales Be wise and gather in the swelling sails The Discouragement I. WHat wou'd the wise men's Censure be I wonder should they hear me say I was resolv'd to throw my Books away How wou'd some scorn and others pitty me Sure he 's in love 't is for some Charming Eve That he like Adam Paradise does leave This only difference would be Between my great grandsire and me That I my Paradise forgo For want of appetite to know II. 'T is not that Knowledge I despise No you misconstrue my design Or that to Enthusiasm I incline And hope by Inspiration to be wise 'T is not for this I bid my Books adiew No I love Learning full as well as you And have the Arts great Circle run With as much Vigour as the Sun His Zodiac treads till t'other day A thought surprised me in my way III. Thought I for any thing I know What we have stamp'd for science here Does only the Appearance of it wear And will not pass above tho Current here below Perhaps they 've other rules to reason by And what 's Truth here with them 's Absurdity We Truth by a Refracted ray View like the Sun at Ebb of day Whom the gross treacherous Atmosphere Makes where it is not to appear IV. Why then shall I with sweat and pain Digg Mines of disputable oare My labour 's certain so is not my store I may hereafter unlearn all again Why then for Truth do I my spirits wast When after all I may be gull'd at last So when the honest Patriarch thought With seven years labour he had bought His Rachels love by morning light He found the errour of the night V. Oâ— grant some Knowledge dwells below 'T is but for some few years to stay Till I 'm set loose from this dark house of Clay And in an Instant I shall all things know Then shall I learn t' Accumulate Degrees And be at once made Master of all Sciences What need I then great summs lay out And that Estate with care forestall Which when few years are come about Into my hands of Course will fall The 63 Chap. of Isaiah Paraphrased to the 6 Verse A Pindarique Ode I. STrange Scene of glory am I well awake Or is 't my Fancy's wild mistake It cannot be a dream bright beams of light Flow from the Vision 's face and pierce my tender sight No Common Vision this I see Some Marks of more than Human Majesty Who is this mighty Hero who With glorys round his head and terrour in his brow From Bozrah lo he Comes a scarlet die O'respreads his cloaths and does out-vy The Blushes of the Morning Sky Triumphant and Victorious he appears And Honour in his looks and habit wears How strong he treads how stately does he go Pompous and solemn is his pace And full of Majesty as is his face Who is this mighty Hero who 'T is I who to my promise faithful stand I who the Powers of Death Hell and the Grave Have foil'd with this all-conquering hand I who most ready am and mighty too to save II. Why wear'st thou then this scarlet die Say mighty Hero why Why do thy garments look all red Like them that in the winefat tread The wine-press I alone have trod That vast unweildy frame which long did stand Unmov'd and which no mortal force cou'd e're command That ponderous Masse I ply'd alone And with me to assist were none A mighty task it was worthy the Son of God. Angels stood trembling at the dreadful sight Concern'd with what success I should go through The work I undertook to do Inraged I put forth all my might And down the Engine press'd the violent force Disturb'd the universe put nature out of Course The blood gush'd out in streams and checquer'd o're My garments with its deepest gore With Ornamental drops bedeck'd I stood And writ my Victory with my Enemy's Blood. III. The day the Signal day is come When of my Enemys I must vengeance take The day when Death shall have its doom And the Dark Kingdom with its Powers shall shake Fate in her Kalendar mark'd out this day with red She folded down the iron leaf and thus she said This day if ought I can divine be true Shall for a signal Victory Be Celebrated to Posterity Then shall the Prince of light descend And rescue Mortals from th' Infernal Fiend Break through his strongest Forts and all his Host subdue This said she shut the Adamantin Volumn Close And wish'd she might the Crouding years transpose So much she long'd to have the Scene display And see the vast event of this important day And now in midst of the revolving years This great this mighty one appears The faithful Traveller the Sun Has number'd out the days and the set Periods run I lookt and to assist was none My Angelic guards stood trembling by But durst not venture nigh In vain too from my Father did I look For help my Father me forsook Amaz'd I was to see How all deserted me I took my fury for my sole support And with my single arm the Conquest won Loud Acclamations fill'd all Heavens Court The Hymning guards above Strain'd to an higher pitch of Joy and Love The great Iehavah prais'd and his Victorious son The Elevation I. TAke wing my Soul and upwards bend thy flight To thy Originary Fields of Light. Here 's nothing nothing here below That can deserve thy longer stay A secret whisper bids thee go To purer air and beams of native Day Th' ambition of the towring Lark outvy And like him sing as thou dost upward fly II. How all things lessen which my Soul before Did with the groveling Multitude adore Those Pageant Glorys disappear Which charm and dazle mortals eyes How do I in this higher Sphere How do I mortals with their joys despise Pure uncorrupted Element I breathe And pitty their gross Atmosphere beneath III. How vile how sordid here those Trifles shew That please the Tenants of that ball below But ha I 've lost the little sight The Scene 's removed and all I see Is one confused dark mass of night What nothing was now nothing seems to be How calm this Region how serene how clear Sure I some strains of Heavenly music hear IV. On on the task is easy now and light No steams of Earth can here retard thy flight Thou needst not now thy strokes renew 'T is but to spread thy Pinions wide And thou with ease thy seat wilt view Drawn by the Bent of the Ethereal tide 'T is so I find How sweetly on I move Not let by things below and help'd by those above V. But see to what new Region am I come I know it well it is my native home Here led I once a life divine Which did all good no evil know Ah who wou'd such sweet bliss resign For those vain shews which Fools admire below 'T is true but don't of
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
or pine Since 't is thy pleasure Lord it shall be mine III. Thy Med'cine put 's me to great smart Thou 'st wounded me in my most tender part But 't is with a design to cure I must and will thy Soveraign touch endure All that I prized below is gone But yet I still will pray thy will be done IV. Since 't is thy sentence I should part With the most pretious treasure of my heart I freely that and more resign My heart it self as its Delight is thine My little All I give to thee Thou gav'st a greater gift thy Son to me V. He left true Bliss and Joys above Himself he emptied of all good but love For me he freely did forsake More good than he from me can ever take A mortal life for a divine He took and did at last even that resign VI. Take all great God I will not grieve But still will wish that I had still to give I hear thy voice thou bid'st me quit My Paradise I bless and do submit I will not murmur at thy word Nor beg thy Angel to sheath up his sword To my guardian Angel. I. I Own my gentle guide that much I owe For all thy tutelary care and love Through life's wild maze thou 'st led me hitherto Nor ever wilt I hope thy tent remove But yet t' have been completely true Thou should'st have guarded her life too Thou know'st my Soul did most inhabit there I could have spared thee to have guarded her II. But since by thy neglect or heavens decree She 's gone to increase the pleasures of the Blest Since in this Sphere my Sun I ne're shall see Grant me kind Spirit grant me this request When I shall ease thy Charge and dye For sure I think thou wilt be by Lead me through all the numerous host above And bring my new-flown Soul to her I love III. With what high passion shall we then embrace What pleasure will she take t' impart to me The Rites and Methods of that sacred place And what a Heaven 't will be to learn from thee That pleasure I shall then I fear As ill as now my sorrow bear And could then any Chance my life destroy I should I fear then dye again with Joy. The Defiance I. WEll Fortune now if e're you 've shewn What you had in your power to do My wandring love at length had fix'd on one One who might please even unconstant you Me of this one you have deprived On whom I stay'd my Soul in whom I lived You 've shewn your power and I resign But now I 'll shew thee Fortune what 's in mine II. I will not no I will not grieve My tears within their banks shall stand Do what thou wilt I am resolv'd to Live Since thee I can't I will my self command I will my passions so controul That neither they nor thou shalt hurt my Soul I 'll run so counter to thy will Thy good I 'll relish but not feel thy Ill. III. I felt the shaft that last was sent But now thy Quiver I desy I fear no Pain from thee or Discontent Clad in the Armour of Philosophy Thy last seiz'd on me out of guard Vnarm'd too far within thy reach I dar'd But now the field I 'll dearly sell I 'm now at least by thee Impassible IV. My Soul now soars high and sublime Beyond the Spring of thy best bow Like those who so long on high mountains climb Till they see rain and thunder hear below In vain thou 'lt spend thy darts on me My Fort 's too strong for thy Artillery Thy closest aim won't touch my mind Here 's all thy gain still to be thought more blind Superstition I. I Care not tho it be By the preciser sort thought Popery We Poets can a Licence shew For every thing we do Hear then my little Saint I 'll pray to thee II. If now thy happy mind Amidst its various joys can leasure find T' attend to any thing so low As what I say or do Regard and be what thou wast ever kind III. Let not the Blest above Engross thee quite but sometimes hither rove Fain would I thy sweet image see And sit and talk with thee Nor is it Curiosity but Love. IV. Ah what delight 't wou'd be Would'st thou sometimes by stealth converse with me How should I thy sweet commerce prize And other joys despise Come then I ne'r was yet denyed by thee V. I would not long detain Thy Soul from Bliss nor keep thee here in pain Nor should thy fellow-Saints ere know Of thy escape below Before thou' rt miss'd thou should'st return again VI. Sure heaven must needs thy love As well as other qualitys improve Come then and recreate my sight With rays of thy pure light 'T will chear my eyes more than the lamps above VII But if Fate 's so severe As to confine thee to thy blissfull Sphere And by thy absence I shall know Whether thy state be so Live happy but be mindful of me there The complaint of Adam turn'd out of Paradise I. ANd must I go and must I be no more The Tenant of this happy ground Can no reserves of pity me restore Can no attonement for my stay compound All the rich Odours that here grow I 'd give To Heaven in incense might I here but live Or if it be a grace too high To live in Eden let me there but dye II. Fair place thy sweets I just began to know And must I leave thee now again Ah why does Heaven such short-lived Bliss bestow A tast of pleasure but full draught of pain I ask not to be chief in this blest state Let Heaven some other for that place create So 't is in Eden let me but have An under-gardener's place 't is all I crave III. But 't will not do I see I must away My feet profane this sacred ground Stay then bright Minister one minute stay Let me in Eden take one farewell round Let me go gather but one fragrant bough Which as a Relique I may keep and shew Fear not the Tree of Life it were A Curse to be immortal and not here IV. 'T is done Now farewell thou most happy place Farewell ye streams that softly creep I ne'r again in you shall view my face Farewell ye Bowers in you I ne'r shall sleep Farewell ye trees ye flow'ry beds farewell You ne'r will bless my tast nor you my smell Farewell thou Guardian divine To thee my happy Rival I resign V. O whither now whither shall I repair Exil'd from this Angelic coast There 's nothing left that 's pleasant good or fair The world can't recompence for Eden lost 'T is true I 've here a universal sway The Creatures me as their chief Lord obey But yet the world tho all my Seat Can't make me happy tho it make me great VI. Had I lost lesser and but seeming Bliss Reason my sorrows might relieve But when the loss
Mighty Hero our whole Isle survey Advance thy Standard conquer all the way Let nothing but the Sea controul The progress of thy active Soul. Act like a pious Courteous ghost And to mankind retrieve what 's lost With thy victorious charitable hand Point out the hidden Treasures of our Land. Envy or Ignorance do what they will Thou hast a Blessing from the Muses Hill. Great be thy Spirit as thy Work 's divine Shew thou thy Maker's Praise we Poets will sing thine The Exchange I. WHen Corydon had lost his Liberty And felt the Tyrant's heavy chain He swore could he but once get free He 'd never no he 'd never love again II. But stay dull shepherd if you quench your fire Too dear you 'l buy your Liberty Let not such vigorous heats expire I 'l teach thee how to love and yet be free III. Take bright Vrania to thy Amorous breast To her thy flaming heart resign Void not the room but change the guest And let thy sensual love commence Divine IV. The Swain obey'd and when he once had known This fore-tast of the joys above He vow'd tho he might be his own Yet he would ever yes he 'd ever love The Refinement I. WEll 't was a hard Decree of Fate My Soul to Clip thy pinions so To make thee leave thy pure Ethereal state And breathe the Vapours of this Sphere below Where he that can pretend to have Most Freedom 's still his body's slave II. Was e're a Substance so divine With such an unlike Consort joyn'd Did ever things so wide so close combine As massy Clods and Sun-beams Earth and mind When yet two Souls can ne'r agree In Friendship but by parity III. Unequal match what wilt thou do My Soul to raise thy Plumes again How wilt thou this gross vehicle subdue And thy first Bliss first Purity obtain Thy Consort how wilt thou refine And be again all o're divine IV. Fix on the Soveraign Fair thy eye And kindle in thy breast a flame Wind up thy Passions to a pitch so high Till they melt down and rarify thy frame Like the great Prophet then aspire Thy Chariot will like his be Fire To Melancholy I. Mysterious Passion dearest Pain Tell me what wondrous Charms are these With which thou dost torment and please I grieve to be thy slave yet would not Freedom gain No Tyranny like thine we know That half so cruel e're appeard And yet thou' rt Loved as well as Fear'd Perhaps the only Tyrant that is so II. Long have I been thy Votary Thou 'st led me out to woods and groves Made'st me despise all other Loves And give up all my Passions all my Soul to thee Thee for my first Companion did I chuse First even before my darling Muse And yet I know of thee no more Than those who never did thy shrine adore III. Thou' rt Mystery and Riddle all Like those thou inspirest thou lov'st to be In darkness and obscurity Even learned Athens thee an unknown God might call Strange contrarys in thee combine Both Hell and Heaven in thee meet Thou greatest bitter greetest sweet No Pain is like thy Pain no Pleasure too like thine IV. 'T is the grave doctrine of the Schools That Contrarys can never be Consistent in the high'st degree But thou must stand exempt from their dull narrow Rules And yet 't is said the brightest mind Is that which is by thee refined See here a greater Mystery Thou makest us wise yet ruin'st our Philosophy The Discontent I. NOt that it is not made my Fate To stand upon the dangerous heights of state Nor that I cannot be possest Of th' hidden treasures of the East Nor that I cannot bathe in Pleasures Spring And rifle all the sweets which Natures gardens bring Do I repine my Destiny I can all these despise as well as you deny II. It shall not discompose my mind Though not one star above to me prove kind Their influence may sway the Sea But make not the least change in me They neither can afflict my state nor bless Their greatest gifts are small and my desires are less My Vessel bears but little sail What need I then a full and swelling gale III. And yet I 'm discontented too Perhaps ye aspiring Souls as much as you We both in equal trouble live But for much different Causes grieve You that these gilded joys you can't obtain And I because I know they 're empty all and vain You still pursue in hopes to find I stand and dare not flatter on my mind IV. This Tree of Knowledg is I see Still fatal to poor man's felicity That which yields others great repast Can't please my now enlightn'd tast Before tho I could nothing solid find Yet still with specious Prospects I could please my mind Now all at farthest I can see Is one perpetual Round of Vanity Beauty I. BEst Object of the Passion most divine What excellence can Nature shew In all her various store below Whose Charms may be compar'd to thine Even Light it self is therefore fair Only because it makes thy Sweets appear II. Thou streaming Splendour of the face diviue What in the Regions above Do Saints like thee adore or love What excellence is there like thine I except not the Divinity That great and Soveraign good for thou art He. III. He 's Beauty's vast Abyss and boundless Sea The Primitive and greatest Fair All his Perfections Beauty's are Beauty is all the Deity Some streams from this vast Ocean flow And that is all that pleases all that 's Fair below IV. Divine Perfection who alone art all That various Scene of Excellence Which pleases either mind or sense Tho thee by different names we call Search Nature through thou still wilt be The Sum of all that 's good in her Variety V. Love that most active Passion of the mind Whose roving Flame does traverse o're All Nature's good and reach for more Still to thy magic Sphere's confined 'T is Beauty all we can desire Beauty 's the native Mansion of Love's Fire VI. Those Finer Spirits who from the Croud retire To study Nature's artful Scheme Or speculate a Theorem What is 't but Beauty they admire And they too who enamour'd are Of Vertues face love her because she 's Fair. VII No empire Soveraign Beauty is like thine Thou reign'st unrivall'd and alone And universal is thy throne Stoics themselves to thee resign From Passions be they ne're so free Something they needs must love and that is Thee VIII He whom we all adore that mighty He Owns thy supream dominion And happy lives in thee alone We 're blest in him and He in thee In thee he 's infinitely blest Thou art the inmost Center of his Rest IX Pleas'd with thy Form which in his essence shin'd Th' Almighty chose to multiply This Flower of his Divinity And lesser Beautys soon design'd The unform'd Chaos he remov'd Tinctured the Masse with thee and then it lov'd X. But
my Spirit under the greatest Ariditys and dejections with the delightfull prospect of thy Glorys O let me sit down under this thy shadow with great delight till the fruit of thy Tree of life shall be sweet to my tast Let me stay and entertain my longing Soul with the Contemplation of thy Beauty till thou shalt condescend to kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth till thou shalt bring me into thy banquetting house where Vision shall be the support of my Spirit and thy Banner over me shall be Love. Grant this O my God my Happiness for the sake of thy great love and of the Son of thy love Christ Jesus Amen Contemplation the Fifth Two Corollaries hence deduc'd the first whereof is that God is therefore to be loved with all possible application and elevation of Spirit with all the heart soul and mind 1. AMong the Perfections of human nature the faculty of desiring or reaching out after agreeable Objects is not the least considerable and 't is the peculiar glory of man to be an Amorous as well as a Rational Being For by this he supplies the defects of his nature not only enjoys the good he unites with but digests it as it were into himself and makes it his own and relieves his domestic poverty by forreign negotiation 2. But tho the Pathetic part of man be one of the noblest perfections he is furnish'd with yet so generally faulty are we in the due application and direction of this noble faculty that to be pathetically and amorously dispos'd is lookt upon by some not as a Perfection but as a Disease of the Soul and is condemn'd by a whole order of men as inconsistent with the Character of wisdom according to that Stoical Aphorism Amare simul sapere ipsi Jovi non datur 3. But certainly Eve was intended as a Help for Adam tho in the event she prov'd the instrument of his seduction and our Passions were given us to perfect and accomplish our natures tho by accidental misapplications to unworthy objects they may turn to our degradation and dishonour We may indeed be debased as well as innobled by them but then the fault is not in the large Sails but in the ill conduct of the Pilot if our Vessel miss the Haven The Tide of our love can never run too high provided it take a right Channel our Passion then will be our highest Wisdom and he was no Stoic that said as the Hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God. And again my Soul is athirst for God. And again my Soul breaketh out for fervent desire And again whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee 4. Being therefore from the foregoing Periods arrived to this Conclusion that God is the true End and Center of man I think I ought now to let loose the reins of my affections to unbay the current of my Passion and love on without any other boundary or measure than what is set me by the finiteness of my natural powers 5. 'T is true indeed whenever we turn the Edge of our desire towards any Created good 't is Prudence as well as Religion to use caution and moderation to gage the Point of our affections lest it run in too far there being so much emptiness in the enjoyment and so much hazard in the Possession When we venture to lean upon such objects we are like men that walk upon a Quagmire and therefore should tread as lightly as we can lest it give way and sink under us 6. But how excellent a Vertue soever Moderation may be in our concernments with other objects we have nothing to do with it in the love of that Being who is our End and Center There is here danger but of one Extreme and that is of the defect We can love but finitely when we have lov'd our utmost and what is that to him who is infinitely lovely Since therefore our most liberal proportions will be infinitely short and scanty we ought not sure to give new retrenchments to our love and cut it yet shorter by frugal limitations 7. For if God be our End and Center he must necessarily have all that good in him which we can possibly desire and if so then he is able to stay and satisfy all our Love and if so then nothing so reasonable as that he should have it all We are therefore to love him with all possible application and elevation of Spirit with all the heart Soul and mind We should collect and concenter all the rays of our love into this one Point and lean towards God with the whole weight of our Soul as all that is ponderous in nature tends with its whole weight toward the Center And this we should do as directly as may be with as little warping and declension the Creature as is possible For so also 't is to be observ'd in nature that not only all weight or Pondus tends toward the Center but that also it moves thither as nigh as it can in a direct and perpendicular line The Prayer MY God my Happiness who art fairer than the Children of men and who thy self art very Love as well as altogether lovely draw me and I will run after thee O wind up my Soul to the highest pitch of Love that my facultys will bear and let me never alienate any degree of that noble Passion from thee its only due object Quench in me all terrene fires and sensual relishes and do thou wound me deep and strike me through with the arrows of a divine Passion that as thou art all Beauty and Perfection so I may be all Love and Devotion My heart is ready O God my heart is ready for a Burnt offering send down then an holy fire from above to kindle the Sacrifice and do thou continually fan and keep alive and clarify the flame that I may be ever ascending up to thee in devout breathings and pious Aspirations till at length I ascend in Spirit to the Element of Love where I shall know thee more clearly and love thee more Seraphically and receive those peculiar coronets of glory thou hast reserv'd for those that eminently love thee Amen Contemplation the Sixth The second CorollarÅ· that therefore God is ultimately to be refer'd to in all our actions and that he is not to be used by us but enjoyed 1. AS there is nothing of greater and more universal moment to the regular ordination of human life than rightly to accommodate the Means and the End and to make them uniform and Symbolical so is there nothing wherein men are more universally peccant and defective and that not only in Practice but also in Notion and Theory 2. For altho to do an ill action for a good End and to do a good action for an ill End are generally acknowledg'd alike criminal yet concerning this latter 't is observable
Life so the most Happy but that it may become Happier unless somthing more be comprehended in the Word Vertue then the Stoics Peripatetics and the generality of other Moralists understand by it For with them it signifies no more but only such a firm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or habitude of the Will to good whereby we are constantly disposed notwithstanding the contrary tendency of our Passions to perform the necessary Offices of Life This they call Moral or Civil Vertue and although this brings always Happiness enough with it to make ample amends for all the difficulties which attend the practise of it Yet I am not of Opinion that the greatest Happiness attainable by Man in this Life consists in it But there is another and a higher Sense of the Word which frequently occurs in the Pythagorean and Platonic Writings viz. Contemplation and the Vnitive way of Religion And this they call Divine Vertue I allow of the distinction but I would not be thought to derive it from the Principle as if Moral Vertue were acquired and this infused for to speak ingeniously infused Vertue seem'd ever to me as great a Paradox in Divinity as Occult qualities in Philosophy but from the nobleness of the Object the Object of the former being Moral good and the Object of the latter God himself The former is a State of Proficiency the latter of Perfection The former is a State of difficulty and contention the latter of ease and ferenity The former is employ'd in mastering the Passions and regulating the actions of common Life the latter in Divine Meditation and the extasies of Seraphic Love. He that has only the former is like Moses with much difficulty climbing up to the Holy Mount but he that has the latter is like the same Person conversing with God on the serene top of it and shining with the Rays of anticipated Glory So that this latter supposes the acquisition of the former and consequently has all the Happiness retaining to the other besides what it adds of its own This is the last Stage of Human Perfection the utmost round of the Ladder whereby we ascend to Heaven one Step higher is Glory Here then will I build my Tabernacle for it is good to be here Here will I set up my Pillar of Rest here will I fix for why should I travel on farther in pursuit of any greater Happiness since Man in this Station is but a little lower than the Angels one remove from Heaven Here certainly is the greatest happiness as well as Perfection attainable by Man in this State of imperfection For since that Happiness which is absolutely perfect and compleat consists in the clear and intimate Vision and most ardent Love of God hence we ought to take our Measures and conclude that to be the greatest Happiness attainable in this State which is the greatest participation of the other And that can be nothing else but the Vnitive way of Religion which consists of the Contemplation and Love of God. I shall say somthing of each of these severally and somthing of the Vnitive way of Religion which is the result of both and so shut up this Discourse 27. By Contemplation in general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we understand an application of the Understanding to some truth But here in this place we take the word in a more peculiar sense as it signifies an habitual attentive steddy application or conversion of the Spirit to God and his Divine Perfections Of this the Masters of Mystic Theology commonly make fifteen Degrees The first is Intuition of Truth the second is a Retirement of all the Vigour and Strength of the Faculties into the innermost parts of the Soul the third is Spiritual Silence the fourth is Rest the fifth is Union the sixth is the Hearing of the still Voice of God the seventh is Spiritual Slumber the eighth is Ecstacy the ninth is Rapture the tenth is the Corporeal Appearance of Christ and the Saints the eleventh is the Imaginary Appearance of the Same the twelfth is the Intellectual Vision of God the thirteenth is the Vision of God in Obscurity the fourteenth is an admirable Manifestation of God the fifteenth is a clear and intuitive Vision of him such as St. Austin and Tho. Aquinas attribute to St. Paul when he was wrapt up into the third Heaven Others of them reckon seven degrees only viz. Taste Desire Satiety Ebriety Security Tranquility but the name of the seventh they say is known only to God. 28. I shall not stand to examine the Scale of this Division perhaps there may be a kind of a Pythagoric Superstition in the number But this I think I may affirm in general that the Soul may be wound up to a most strange degree of Abstraction by a silent and steddy Contemplation of God. Plato defines Contemplation to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Solution and a Separation of the Soul from the Body And some of the severer Platonists have been of Opinion that 't is possible for a Man by mere intention of thought not only to withdraw the Soul from all commerce with the Senses but even really to separate it from the Body to untwist the Ligaments of his Frame and by degrees to resolve himself into the State of the Dead And thus the Jews express the manner of the Death of Moses calling it Osculum Oris Dei the Kiss of God's Mouth That is that he breath'd out his Soul by the mere Strength and Energy of Contemplation and expired in the Embraces of his Maker A Happy way of Dying How ambitious should I be of such a conveyance were it practicable How passionately should I joyn with the Church in the Canticles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him Kiss me with the Kisses of his Mouth Cant. 1. 2. 29. But however this be determin'd certain it is that there are exceeding great Measures of Abstraction in Contemplation so great that somtimes whether a Man be in the Body or out of the Body he himsel can hardly tell And consequently the Soul in these Praeludiums of Death these Neighbourhoods of Separation must needs have brighter glimpses and more Beatific Ideas of God than in a state void of these Elevations and consequently must love him with greater Ardency Which is the next thing I am to consider 30. The love of God in general may be considered either as it is purely intellectual or as it is a Passion The first is when the Soul upon an apprehension of God as a good delectable and agreeable Object joyns her self to him by the Will. The latter is when the motion of the Will is accompany'd with a sensible Commotion of the Spirits and an estuation of the Blood. Some I know are of Opinion that 't is not possible for a man to be affected with this sensitive Love of God which is a Passion because there is nothing in God which falls under our imagination and consequently the imagination being the only Medium
of conveyance it cannot be propagated from the Intellectual part to the Sensitive Whereupon they affirm that none are capable of this sensitive passionate Love of God but Christians who enjoy the Mystery of the Incarnation whereby they know God has condescended so far as to cloath himself with Flesh and to become like one of us But 't is not all the Sophistry of the cold Logicians that shall work me out of the belief of what I feel and know and rob me of the sweetest entertainment of my Life the Passionate Love of God. Whatever some Men pretend who are Strangers to all the affectionate heats of Religion and therefore make their Philosophy a Plea for their indevotion and extinguish all Holy Ardours with a Syllogism yet I am firmly persuaded that our love of God may be not only passionate but even Wonderfully so and exceeding the Love of Women 'T is an Experimental and therefore undeniable Truth that Passion is a great Instrument of Devotion and accordingly we find that Men of the most warm and pathetick Tempers and Amorous Complexions Provided they have but Consideration enough withall to fix upon the right Object prove the greatest Votaries in Religion And upon this account it is that to heighten our Love of God in our Religious Addresses we endeavour to excite our Passions by Music which would be to as little purpose as the Fanatic thinks 'tis if there were not such a thing as the Passionate Love of God. But then as to the Objection I Answer with the excellent Descartes that although in God who is the Object of our Love we can imagine nothing yet we can imagine that our Love which consists in this that we would unite our selves to the Object beloved and consider our selves as it were a part of it And the sole Idea of this very Conjunction is enough to stir up a heat about the Heart and so kindle a very vehement Passion To which I add that although the Beauty or Amiableness of God be not the same with that which we see in Corporeal Beings and consequently cannot directly fall within the Sphere of the imagination yet it is somthing Analogous to it and that very Analogy is enough to excite a Passion And this I think sufficient to warrant my general division of the Love of God into Intellectual and Sensitive 31. But there is a more peculiar Acceptation of the Love of God proper to this place And it is that which we call Seraphic By which I understand in short that Love of God which is the effect of an intense Contemplation of him This differs not from the other in kind but only in degree and that it does exceedingly in as much as the thoughtful Contemplative Man as I hinted before has clearer Perceptions and livelier Impressions of the Divine Beauty the lovely Attributes and Perfection of God than he whose Soul is more deeply set in the Flesh and lies groveling in the bottom of the Dungeon 32. That the nature of this Seraphic Love may be the better understood I shall consider how many degrees there may be in the Love of God. And I think the Computation of Bellarmin lib. 2. de monachis cap. 2. is accurate enough He makes four The first is to love God proportionably to his Loveliness that is with an infinite Love and this degree is peculiar to God himself The second is to Love him not proportionably to his Loveliness but to the utmost Capacity of a Creature and this degree is peculiar to Saints and Angels in Heaven The third is to love him not proportionably to his Loveliness nor to the utmost capacity of a Creature absolutely consider'd but to the utmost capacity of a Mortal Creature in this Life And this he says is proper to the Religious The fourth is to love him not proportionably to his Loveliness nor to the utmost capacity of a Creature consider'd either absolutely or with respect to this Life but only so as to love nothing equally with him or above him That is not to do any thing contrary to the Divine Love. And this is absolute indispensable duty less than which will not qualify us for the enjoyment of God hereafter 33. Now this Seraphic Love which we here discourse of is in the third degree When a Man after many degrees of Abstraction from the Animal Life many a profound and steddy Meditation upon the Excellencies of God sees such a vast Ocean of Beauty and Perfection in him that he loves him to the utmost stretch of his Power When he sits under his shadow with great delight and his fruit is sweet to his Tast Cant. 2. 3. When he Consecrates and Devotes himself whollly to him and has no Passion for Inferiour Objects When he is ravished with the delights of his Service and breaths out some of his Soul to him in every Prayer When he is delighted with Anthems of Praise and Adoration more than with Marrow and Fatness and Feasts upon Alleluiah When he melts in a Calenture of Devotion and his Soul breaketh out with fervent Desire Psal 119. When the one thing he delights in is to converse with God in the Beauty of Holiness and the one thing he desires to see him as he is in Heaven This is Seraphic Love and this with Contemplation makes up that which the Mystic Divines stile the Vnitive way of Religion It is called so because it Unites us to God in the most excellent manner that we are capable of in this Life By Union here I do not understand that which is local or presential because I consider God as Omnipresent Neither do I mean a Union of Grace as they call it whereby we are reconciled to God or a Union of Charity whereof it is said he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Jo. 4. 16. The first of these being as common to the inanimate things as to the most Extasi'd Soul upon Earth And the two last being common to all good men who indeed love God but yet want the excellency of Contemplation and the Mystic Union The Union then which I here speak of is that which is between the Faculty and the Object Which consists in some Habitude or Operation of one toward the other The Faculties here are the Vnderstanding and Will the Object God and the Operations Contemplation and Love. The result of which two is the Mystic Vnion Which according to this complex Notion of it that I have here delivered is thus most admirably represented by the excellent Bishop Taylour It is says he a Prayer of quietness and silence and a Meditation extraordinary a Discourse without variety a Vision and Intuition of Divine Excellencies an immediat entry into an Orb of light and a resolulution of all our Faculties into Sweetness Affections and Starings upon the Divine Beauty And is carried on to Extasies Raptures Suspensions Elevations Abstractions and Apprehensions beatifical 34. I make no doubt but that
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Counterpart whereof in English is Conceptive and Exhibitive By the Mind of God Exhibitive is meant the Essence of God as thus or thus imitable or participable by any Creature and this is the same with an Idea By the Mind of God Conceptive is meant a reflex act of God's Understanding upon his own Essence as Exhibitive or as thus and thus imitable Now if you consider the Divine Understanding as Conceptive or Speculative it does not make its Object but suppose it as all Speculative Understanding does neither is the Truth of the Object to be measured from its Conformity with that but the Truth of that from its Conformity with its Object But if you consider the Divine Understanding as Exhibitive then its Truth does not depend upon its Conformity with the Nature of things but on the contrary the Truth of the Nature of things depends upon its Conformity with it For the Divine Essence is not thus or thus imitable because such and such things are in being but such and such things are in being because the Divine Essence is thus and thus imitable for had not the Divine Essence been thus imitable such and such Beings would not have been possible And thus is Plato to be understood when he founds the Truth of things upon their Conformity with the Divine Ideas and thus must the Schools mean too by that foremention'd Axiom concerning Transcendental Truth if they will speak Sense as I noted above 6. And now Sir from Plato's Ideas thus amiably set forth the Transition methinks is very natural to Love. And concerning this I shall account in the same Method first by pointing out the popular Misapprehensions about it and then by exhibiting a true Notion of it Platonic Love is a thing in every bodies Mouth but I find scarce any that think or speak accurately of it The mistakes which I observe are chiefly these Some of the grosser Understanders suppose that Plato by his Love meant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Love of Males but the Occasion of this Conceit was from a passage in his Convivium where he brings in Aristophanes speaking favourably that way But he that shall from hence conclude Plato a prostitute to that vile Passion may as well conclude a Dramatic Poet to be an Atheist or a Whore-master because he represents those of that Character But that Divine Plato intended nothing less than to countenance any such thing is evident from the whole scope and purport of that Dialogue and from other places where he expresly condemns it and rejects it with great abhorrence particularly in the first of his de legibus where he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unnatural attempt Others by Platonic Love understand the Love of Souls and this indeed has somthing of truth in it only it is much too narrow and particular 7. Others take Platonic Love to be a desire of imprinting any excellency whether moral or intellectual in the Minds of beautiful young men by Instruction and so likewise of enjoying your own Perfections reflected from the Mind of another mix'd with and recommended by the Beauty of the Body According to the usual saying Gratior è Pulchro c. And thus Socrates was said to love his beautiful Pupils Phaedrus and Alcibiades Others measure the Nature of Platonic Love not from the Object to which they suppose it indifferent but from the manner of the Act. And according to these that man is said to love Platonically that does Casso delectamine amare love at a distance that never designs a close fruition of the Object what ever it be whether Sensual or Intellectual but chooses to dwell in the Suburbs pleasing himself with remote Prospects and makes a Mistress of his own Desire And this is the receiv'd Notion and that which People generally mean when they talk of Platonic Love. But this too is far enough from the right for tho Platonic Love does not aim at the fruition of sensual Objects yet it designs the fruition of its own Object as much as any other Love does That therefore which distinguishes Platonic Love is not the manner of the act above-mention'd but the peculiarity of the Object And what that is must be collected from the Design of Plato in that Dialogue where he treats purposely of it his Convivium Which is briefly to shew the manner of the Souls ascent to God by love For Plato makes the Happiness of Man to consist in the Contemplation and Love of God whom he calls the Idea of Beauty But now because this Idea of Beauty God is of too sublime and refined excellency to be immediatly fastned upon by our Love he recommends to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Method of Ascent which is from loving the Beauty we see in Bodies to pass on to the Love of the Beauty of the Soul from the Beauty of the Soul to the Beauty of Vertue and lastly from the Beauty of Vertue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the immense Ocean of Beauty c. For so have I observ'd a tender Infants Eye not enduring to gaze directly upon the too powerful Excellence of the Meridian Sun chuse to entertain it self with the abatements of corrected and reflected Light and take up with the feebler refreshments of lesser Beauties for a while till at length the faculty grows more confirm'd and dares encounter the Sun in his Strength And these are the Steps of the Sanctuary So that Platonic Love is the Love of Beauty abstracted from all sensual Applications and desire of corporal contract as it leads us on to the Love of the first original Beauty God or more plainly thus The Ascent of the Soul to the Love of the Divine Beauty by the Love of abstracted Beauty in Bodies This Love of abstracted Beauty in Bodies he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celestial Love in opposition to that which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same with that Passion commonly signify'd by the name of Love viz. a desire of corporal contact arising from the sight of Beauty This last indeed is a very vile brutish unmanly affection and such as considering the vileness of our Bodies one would think a man could never be charm'd into without the Magic of a Love-potion But the former is an Angelical Affection for certainly Beauty is a Divine thing It is as the Platonic Author says of Wisdom the pure Influence flowing from the Glory of the Almighty and the Brightness of the Everlasting Light or in Plato's own Words A Ray of God. And therefore the Love of abstract Beauty must needs be a very generous and divine Affection Sir I could be more large in my account but I consider what 't is I write and to whom and therefore I think it high time to remit you to your own Thoughts some of which I hope will be that I am in a very eminent degree of Friendship Yours J. Norris
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
have done But he to whom as chief was given The whole Militia of Heaven That Mighty He Declines all Guards for his defence But that of his inseparable Innocence And quietly gives up his Liberty He 's seiz'd on by the Military bands With Cords they bind his sacred hands But ah how weak what nothings would they prove Were he not held by stronger ones of Love. VI. Once more my weary'd Muse thy Pinions try And reach the top of Calvary A steep Ascent But most to him who bore The Burthen of a Cross this way before The Cross ascends there 's something in it sure That Moral is and mystical No Heights of Fortune are from thee secure Afflictions sometimes Climb as well as fall Here breath a while and view The dolefull st Picture Sorrow ever drew The Lord of Life Heavens darling Son The Great th' Almighty one With out-stretch'd Arms nail'd to a cursed Tree Crown'd with sharp Thorns cover'd with Infamy He who before So many Miracles had done The Lives of others to restore Does with a greater lose his own Full three long hours his tender body did sustain Most exquisite and poignant pain So long the Sympathizing Sun his light withdrew And wonder'd how the Stars their dying Lord could view VII This strange defect of light Does all the Sages in Astronomy affright With fears of an Eternal Night Th' Intelligences in their Courses stray And Travellers below mistake their way Wondring to be benighted in the midst of Day Each mind is seiz'd with Horror and Despair And more o respread with darkness than the air Fear on t is wondrous all and new 'T is what past Ages never knew Fear on but yet you 'll find The great Eclipse is still behind The lustre of the face Divine Does on the Mighty Sufferer no longer shine God hides his Glories from his sight With a thick Skreen made of Hells grossest night Close-wrought it was and Solid all Compacted and Substantial Impenetrable to the Beatifick light Without Complaint he bore The tortures he endur'd before But now no longer able to contain Under the great Hyperbole of pain He mourns and with a strong Pathetick cry Laments the sad Desertion of the Diety Here stop my Muse stop and admire The Breather of all Life does now expire His Milder Father Summons him away His Breath obediently he does resign Angels to Paradice his Soul convey And Calm the Relicts of his grief with Hymns divine Annotations THis Ode is after the Pindaric way which is the highest and most magnificent kind of writing in Verse and consequently fit only for great and noble Subjects such as are as boundless as its own Numbers The nature of which is to be loose and free and not to keep one settled pace but sometimes like a gentle stream to glide along peaceably within its own Channel and sometimes like an impetuous Torrent to roul on extravagantly and carry all before it Agreeable to that description of Horace Nunc pace delabentis Hetruscum In mare nunc lapides adesos Stirpesque raptas pecus domos Volventis una non sine montium Clamore vicinaeque Sylvae And this may serve to explain the Introduction of the Poem And hatch'd with kindly heat the Vniverse Love in the Gentile Theology is made the most ancient of the Gods and the Sire of all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Plutarch And it is described by Simmias Rhodius in a pair of Wings which suited well with the Symbolical representation of the Chaos by an Egg which was brooded and hatch'd under these Wings of Love. This whole matter is rarely well and at large express'd by Aristophanes in Avibus The plain and undisguised meaning of it is this That the Creation of the World was the effect of the Divine Love God having no other end in it besides the Communication of his own Happiness As th' Elements are weighty proved When from their Native Station they 're removed This is according to the Aristotelean Hypothesis that the Elements are not heavy in their own places which whether it be true or no I shall not now dispute However it serves for an Illustration which is sufficient for my present purpose He saw the foul Ingratitude of those c. The bitter Ingredients of our Lord's Cup mention'd hitherto were taken from things relating to his own personal concern But this last motive of his Sorrow proceeds wholly on the behalf of others of whose final Impenitence he is suppos'd to have a foresight This I take to be a good and proper insinuation of the excellency of our Blessed Lord's temper his exceeding great Love and Philanthropy when among the other Ingredients of his Passion this is supposed to be one that there would be some who by their own default would receive no benefit from it Vnseal'd to him the Book of Gods decree c. Whether the Angel used these topicks of Consolation or no is a thing as indifferent to my purpose as 't is uncertain In the Scripture it is only said in general that there appear'd an Angel from Heaven strengthning him However these Arguments are such as are probable and pertinent and that 's sufficient In haste for news the heavenly people ran And joy'd to hear the hopeful state of man. It is highly reasonable to believe that those blessed and excellent Spirits who out of their compassionate love and concern for mankind usher'd in the news of our Saviour's Nativity with Anthems of Praise and Thanksgiving and are said likewise to rejoice at the Conversion of a Sinner were also mightily transported with joy when they understood that our Saviour notwithstanding the reluctancy of innocent Nature was at length fully resolv'd to undertake the Price of our Redemption Full three long hours his Tender Body did sustain Most exquisite and poignant pain It is supposed by the Ancient Fathers that the Sufferings which our B. Saviour underwent in his Body were more afflictive to him than the same would have been to another man upon the account of the excellency and quickness of his sense of feeling And this opinion I take to be as reasonable as 't is pious For since according to the Principles of Philosophy the sense of feeling arises from the proportion of the first Qualities it follows that the better the complexion or temperament of any man is the better his Feeling must needs be Now 't is very reasonable to believe that that man who was to be substantially united to the Godhead and who was begotten by the miraculous overshadowings of the holy Spirit should have a Body endow'd with the best Complexion and most noble Harmony of Qualities that could be that so it might be a suitable Organ for his excellent Soul. And if so then it follows that the flesh of our Lord's Body was so soft and render and his feeling so exquisitely quick and sensible as never any man 's was before And consequently the severe usages which he
underwent not only at his Passion but throughout his whole Life must needs be in a Singular manner afflictive to him And hence appears the vanity of their opinion who are little or nothing affected with the consideration of our Lords Passion because they think it was made light to him by reason of his union with the God-head 'T was easie for him some inconsiderate Persons are ready to say to suffer this or this for he was God and not meer man as we are True he was so but his being God did no way lessen the punishment he underwent as man but only supported him in his existence under it in the same manner as God is supposed by an act of his Almighty Power to preserve the bodies of the Damn'd incorruptible among the everlasting burnings But this I think is no kindness to them Neither did the Society of the Divine Nature any more diminish the Sufferings of our dearest Lord nay in one respect it proved an accidental aggravation to them because upon the account of this Noble Union he had given him a Body of a most admirable Complexion and Harmonious Temperature and consequently of a Flesh exceeding tender and most exquisitely perceptive of the least impressions So long the Sympathizing Sun his light withdrew And wonder'd how the Stars their dying Lord could view The Eclipse which accompany'd the Passion of our Saviour was so remarkable and miraculous that 't was taken notice of by many of the Gentile Historians There are three things which made this Eclipse so very remarkable the time of its Appearance the time of its Duration and the Degree of it 1. For the time of its Appearance it was at full Moon when the Moon was not in Conjunction with but in opposition to the Sun. And this appears not only from the testimony of Dionysius who affirms that he saw it at that time but also from the time of our Lord's Passion which according to the relation of the Evangelist was at the Celebration of the Passeover Now the Iews were bound to celebrate the Paschal Solemnity always at full Moon as is to be seen in the twelfth of Exodus This was no time therefore for a Natural Eclipse because 't was impossible that the Moon should then interpose betwixt us and the Sun. 2. For the time of its Duration it was full three hours which is another evidence that this was no Natural Eclipse For the Natural Eclipse of the Sun can never last so long both because of the great disproportion between the Suns Magnitude and that of the Moon and because of the swift motion of the latter 3. For the degree of it it was a total Eclipse The Sun was so darkned that as Historians report who write of that Eclipse the Stars appear'd And this is another Argument that it was no Natural Phoenomenon it being impossible that the Body of the Moon which is so infinitely less than that of the Sun should totally eclipse it Now all these three Remarkables are comprized in the compass of these two Verses For in that it is said that the Sun withdrew his light it is intimated that the light of the Sun was not intercepted by the ordinary conjunction of the Moon but that by an Extraordinary Commission from the God of Nature the Sun rein'd in his light and suspended the emission of his Beams And this denotes the time of its appearance viz. when the Moon was not in Conjunction The time of its duration is implied by the words So long And lastly the Degree of it is implied in the last Verse And wonder'd how the Stars their dying Lord could view Where the appearance of the Stars is not directly express'd but only insinuated and couch'd for the more elegancy of the thought And calm the Relicts of his grief with Hymns divine It is here supposed that the Passion of our Saviour was now over and his Father's wrath wholly appeas'd For I can by no means approve the opinion of those who fancy that our Saviour in the interim betwixt his Death and Resurrection descended locally into Hell there to suffer the torments of the damn'd His own words upon the Cross It is finish'd His promise to the penitent Thief that he should be with him that day in Paradice and his last resignation of his Spirit into the hands of his Father do all of them apparently contradict it But yet though the bitter Cup was wholly drank off upon the Cross 't is natural to imagine some little relish of it to remain behind for a time Though all his sufferings and penal inflictions were ended before his death yet I suppose and I think very naturally some little discomposures of mind remaining like the after-droppings of a shower which his Soul could not immediately shake off upon her release from the Body In allusion to that of Virgil Inter quas Phoenissa recens a vulnere Dido Errabat Sylva in Magna Where the Poet fancies the Ghost of Dido being newly releas'd from the pains of Love could not presently forget her shady walks and melancholy retirements Now these Remains of Sorrow and after-disturbances of mind which cleav'd to the Soul of the Holy Iesus I suppose here to be allay''d by the Musick of Angels in his passage to Paradice An Hymn upon the Transfiguration I. HAil King of Glory clad in Robes of Light Out-shining all we here call bright Hail Light 's divinest Galaxy Hail Express Image of the Deity Could now thy Amorous Spouse thy Beauties view How would her wounds all bleed anew Lovely thou art all o're and bright Thou Israel's Glory and thou Gentile's Light. II. But whence this brightness whence this suddain day Who did thee thus with light array Did thy Divinity dispence T'its Consort a more liberal influence Or did some Curious Angel's Chymick Art The Spirits of purest light impart Drawn from the Native Spring of day And wrought into an Organized ray III. Howe're t was done 't is Glorious and Divine Thou dost with radiant wonders shine The Sun with his bright Company Are all gross Meteors if compar'd to thee Thou art the fountain whence their Light does flow But to thy will thine own dost owe. For as at first thou didst but say Let there be light and strait sprang forth this wondrous day IV. Let now the Eastern Princes come and bring Their Tributary Offering There needs no Star to guide their flight They 'll find thee now great King by thine own light And thou my Soul adore love and admire And follow this bright Guide of Fire Do thou thy Hymns and Praises bring Whil'st Angels with Veil'd Faces Anthems sing The Parting I. DEpart The Sentence of the Damn'd I hear Compendious grief and black despair I now believe the Schools with ease Tho once an happy Infidel That should the sense no torment seize Yet Pain of Loss alone would make a Hell. II. Take all since me of this you Gods deprive 'T is hardly now worth while
to live Nought in exchange can grateful prove No Second Friendship can be found To match my mourning Widow'd Love Eden is lost the rest 's but common ground III. Why are the greatest Blessings sent in vain Which must be lost with greater pain Or why do we fondly admire The greatest good which life can boast When Fate will have the Bliss expire Like Life with painful Agonies 't is lost IV. How fading are the Joves we dote upon Like Apparitions seen and gone But those which soonest take their flight Are the most exquisite and strong Like Angels visits short and bright Mortality's too weak to bear them long V. No pleasure certainly is so divine As when two Souls in Love combine He has the substance of all bliss To whom a Vertuous Friend is given So sweet harmonious Friendship is Add but Eternity you 'll make it Heaven VI. The Minutes in your conversation spent Were Festivals of true content Here here an Ark of pleasing rest My Soul had found that restless Dove My present State methought was best I envy'd none below scarce those above VII But now the better part of me is gone My Sun is set my Turtle flown Tho here and there of lesser bliss Some twinkling Stars give feeble light Still there a mournful darkness is They shine but just enough to shew 't is night VIII Fatal divorce What have I done amiss To bear such misery as this The World yields now no real good All happiness is now become But painted and deluding food As meer a Fiction as Elysium IX Well then since nothing else can please my taste I 'll ruminate on pleasures past So when with glorious Visions blest The waking Hermit finds no theme That 's grateful to his thoughtful breast He sweetly recollects his pleasing Dream To a Lady who asked him What Life was 'T Is not because I breathe and eat 'T is not because a vigorous heat Drives round my Blood and does impart Motion to my Pulse and Heart 'T is not such proofs as these can give Any assurance that I Live. No no to Live is to enjoy What marrs our bliss does Life destroy The days which pass without Content Are not liv'd properly but spent Who says the Damn'd in Hell do Live That word we to the Blessed give The Sum of all whose happiness We by the name of Life express Well then if this account be true To Live is still to Live with You. The third Chapter of Job Paraphrased I. CUrs'd ever curs'd be that unhappy day When first the Suns unwelcome ray I saw with trembling eyes being newly come From the dark Prison of the womb When first to me my vital breath was lent That breath which now must all in sighs be spent II. Let not the Sun his chearing Beams display Upon that wretched wretched day But mourn in Sables and all over shroud His glories in a sullen cloud Let light to upper Regions be confin'd And all below as black as is my mind III. Curs'd be the night which first began to lay The ground work of this house of Clay Let it not have the honour to appear In the Retinue of the year Let all the days shun its society Hate curse abandon it as much as I. IV. Let Melancholy call that Night her own Then let her sigh then let her groan A general grief throughout all Nature spread With folded arms and drooping head All Harps be still or tun'd to such a strain As Fiends might hear and yet not ease their pain V. Let neither Moon nor Stars with borrow'd light Checquer the blackness of that Night But let a pure unquestion'd darkness rear Her Sooty Wings all o're the Air Such as once on th' Abyss of Chaos lay Not to be piere'd by Stars scarce by the edge of Day VI. Why was there then ah why a passage free At once for life and misery Why did I not uncloister'd from the Womb Take my next lodging in a Tomb Why with such cruel tenderness and care Was I nurs'd up to Sorrow and Despair VII For now in sweet repose might I have lain Secure from any grief or pain Untouch'd with care my Bed I should have made In Death's cool and refreshing shade I should have slept now in a happy place All calm and silent as the Empty space VIII There where great Emperours their heads lay down Tir'd with the burthen of a Crown There where the Mighty Popular and Great Are happy in a dear retreat Enjoy that solid Peace which here in vain In Grotts and shady walks they sought t' obtain IX None of Hells Agents can or dare molest This awful Sanctuary of rest No Prisoners sighs no groanings of the Slave Disturb the quiet of the Grave From toil and labour here they ever cease And keep a Sabbath of sweet rest and peace X. Why then does Heaven on Mortals Life bestow When 't is thus overtax'd with woe Why am I forc'd to live against my will When all the good is lost in ill My sighs flow thick my groans sound from afar Like falling waters to the traveller Seraphic Love. I. 'T Is true Frail Beauty I did once resign To thy imperious Charms this Heart of mine There didst thou undisturb'd thy Scepter sway And I methought was pleas'd t' obey Thou seem'st so lovely so divine With such sweet Graces didst thou shine Thou entertain'st my Amorous sense With such Harmonious excellence That Credulous and Silly I With vain with impious Idolatry Ador'd that Star which was to lead me to the Deity II. But now thou soft Enchantress of the mind Farewel a change a mighty change I find The Empire of my Heart thou must resign For I can be no longer thine A Nobler a Diviner Guest Has took possession of my Breast He has and must engross it all And yet the room is still too small In vain you tempt my Heart to rove A fairer object now my Soul does move It must be all Devotion what before was Love. III. Through Contemplation's Optics I have seen Him who is Fairer than the Sons of men The Source of good the light Archetypall Beauty in the Original The fairest of ten thousand He Proportion all and Harmony All Mortal Beauty 's but a ray Of his bright ever-shining day A little feeble twinkling Star Which now the Sun 's in place must disappear There is but One that 's Good there is but One that 's Fair. IV. To thee thou only Fair my Soul aspires With Holy Breathings languishing desires To thee m' inamour'd panting Heart does move By Efforts of Ecstatic Love. How do thy glorious streams of Light Refresh my intellectual sight Tho broken and strain'd through a Skreen Of envious Flesh that stands between When shall m' imprison'd Soul be free That she thy Native uncorrected Light may see And gaze upon thy Beatific Face to all Eternity The Retirement I. WEll I have thought on 't and I find This busie World is Non-sense all I
Darkness is his Pavilion From that his radiant Beauty but from thee He has his Terrour and his Majesty Thus when he first proclaim'd his sacred Law And would his Rebel subjects awe Like Princes on some great solemnity H' appear'd in 's Robes of State and Clad himself with thee V. The Blest above do thy sweet umbrage prize When Cloy'd with light they veil their eyes The Vision of the Deity is made More sweet and Beatific by thy Shade But we poor Tenants of this Orb below Don't here thy excellency's know Till Death our understandings does improve And then our Wiser ghosts thy silent night-walks love VI. But thee I now admire thee would I chuse For my Religion or my Muse 'T is hard to tell whether thy reverend shade Has more good Votarys or Poets made From thy dark Caves were Inspirations given And from thick groves went vows to Heaven Hail then thou Muse's Devotion 's Spring 'T is just we should adore 't is just we should thee sing The Invitation Come my Beloved let us go forth into the Field let us lodge in the Villages Cantic 7. 11. I. COme thou divinest object of my love This Noisy Region don't with us agree Come let us hence remove I cannot here enjoy my self or thee Here Vice and Folly keep their Court Hither their chiefest Favourites resort Debauchery has here her Royal Chair This is her great Metropolis What e're we see or hear Contagion is Their Manners are polluted like the air From both unwholsom vapours rise And blacken with ungrateful steams the neighboring skies II. Come we 'l e'n to our Country Seat repair The Native home of Innocence and Love. There we 'l draw purer air And pitty Monarchs sitting in our grove Here Vertue has her safe retreat Abandon'd by the Many and the great Content does here her peacefull Scepter sway Here Faithfulness and Friendship dwell And Modesty has here her humble Cell Come my Beloved Come and let 's away Be thou My Angel good and kind And I 'l ne'r look at Sodom which we leave behind III. In fields and flow'ry meadows woods and groves The first and best delights of humane kind There we 'l enjoy our loves All free and only to our selves confin'd Here shall my eyes be fixt on thee 'Till every Passion be an extasy Each hour to thee shall be Canonical The Sweets of Nature shall not stay My Soul but only shew to thee the way To thee Thou Beauty's great Original Come My Beloved let 's go prove These sweet Advantages of Peace Content and Love Sitting in an Arbour I. THus ye good Powers thus let me ever be Serene retir'd from Love and Business free The rest of your great World I here resign To the Contentions of the great I only ask that this Retreat This little Tenement be mine All my Ambition's to this point confin'd Others inlarge their fortunes I my mind II. How Calm how happy how serene am I How satisfy'd with my own Company To few things forreign my Content I owe But in my self have almost all Which I dare good or pleasing call Or what 's as well I fancy so Thus I come near my great Creator's state Whose whole Bliss in himself does terminate III. Pleas'd with a various Scene of thought I lie Whil'st an Obliging Stream slides gently by Silent and Deep as is the Bliss I chuse All round the little winged Quire Pathetic tender thoughts inspire And with their strains provoke my Muse With ease the Inspiration I obey And Sing as unconcern'd and as well pleas'd as they IV. If ought below deserve the name of Bliss It must what e're the great ones think be this So once the travelling Patriarch doubly blest With dreams divine from Heaven sent And his own Heaven of Content On 's rocky pillow took his rest Angels stood smiling by and said were we our Bliss To change it should be for a state like his V. 'T is strange so cheap and yet so great a good Should by so very Few be understood That Bliss which Others seek with toil and sweat For which they prodigally wast Their treasures and yet miss at last Here I have at an easy rate So those that Costly Physic use in vain Somtimes by some Cheap by Receipt their health obtain The Complaint I. WEll 't is a dull perpetual Round Which here we silly mortals tread Here 's nought I 'l swear worth living to be found I wonder how 't is with the Dead Better I hope or else ye Powers divine Vnmake me I my immortality resign II. Still to be Vex'd by joys delai'd Or by Fruition to be Cloy'd Still to be wearied in a fruitless Chase Yet still to run and lose the race Still our departed pleasures to lament Which yet when present gave us no Content III. Is this the thing we so extoll For which we would prolong our breath Do we for this long life a Blessing Call And tremble at the name of Death Sotts that we are to think by that we gain Which is as well retain'd as lost with pain IV. Is it for this that we adore Physitians and their art implore Do we bless Nature's liberal supply Of Helps against Mortality Sure 't is but Vain the Tree of Life to boast When Paradise wherein it grew is lost V. Ye Powers why did you man create With such insatiable desire If you 'd endow him with no more estate You should have made him less aspire But now our appetites you Vex and Cheat With reall Hunger and Phantastic meat A Pastoral Vpon the B. Virgin gon from Nazareth to visit Elizabeth Wherein the sadness of the Country Nazareth is described during the absence of the Virgin. Translated out of Rapin. The speakers are Asor Alphaeus and Zebede Asor ANd why Alphaeus in this sweet shade dost thou Make songs which are not seasonable now Since we of fair Parthenia are bereft Parthenia has our fields and mountains left Alph. Ay something 't was my Pipe was t'other day So strangely out of tune and in so hoarse a Key Zeb And I too this misfortune might have known By some late signs had my thoughts been my own My little Goats as I to Pasture led When the grass rises from its dewy bed I wonder'd why the new born flowers hung down Their languid heads as if scorch'd by the Sun. The Lilly and the Rose to droop were seen And so did the immortal Evergreen Parthenia alas was gon For thee sweet Maid Lilly and Rose did grieve The Evergreen thy absence did perceive Asor There grows a shady Elm in our yon grove Where Philomel would constantly repair Sweet Philomel of all the Joy and Love And with melodious Accents fill the air When Parthenis was here this shady tree Was never never from her Music free But now divine Parthenia is gon Silent and sad she wanders up and down And among thorns and lonely hedges makes her moan Alph. Whil'st thou fair Nimph didst bless us
have not done amiss For so the Ingenious Platonist Boethius Huc te si reducem referat via Quam nunc requiris immemor Haec dices memini patria est mihi Hinc ortus hic sistam gradum 'T is one immense and everflowing light My business was here to give a Compendious description of God. Now among all the representations we have of him I thought none so agreeable to the Genius of Poetry as a sensible one and of all those I could not find a better in all the Inventory of the Creation than this of Light. I shall not here endeavour a Parallel It may suffice to say that the Representation is warranted by Authority both human and Divine The School of Plato describes the nature of God by an immense light or Lucid Fountain ever flowing and diffusing its refreshing beams And Holy Scripture goes further and says in express terms that God is light and in him is no darkness at all John I. 5. The Curiosity I. UNhappy state of mortals here below Whom unkind Heaven does inspire With such a constant strong desire And with such slender facultys to know And yet we not content to bear the pain Of thirst unquencht and fruitless love With one more curse our ills improve And toil and drudge for what we ne're can gain II. With what strange Frenzy are we all possest Contented Ignorance to refuse And by laborious search to lose Not the enjoyment only but our Rest Something like Oar does on the surface shine We taken with the specious shew With pains dig in the flattering Mine But all alas in vain Truth lies more low III. The greatest Knowledge we can ever gain From studying Nature Books or men Serves just t' employ dull hours but then It yields less Pleasure than it costs us pain Besides so short and treacherous is our age No sooner are we counted Wise But envious Death shuts up our eyes Just our part is learnt we quit the Stage IV. Could I among the nobler spirits find One that would lay aside his State And be my kind confederate That suddainly I might inrich my mind 'T would be some pleasure this if happy I Could once at ease sit and survey And my great victory enjoy And not as now still labour on and dye The 114 Psalm Paraphrased I. WHen conquer'd by the Plagues of Moses Rod Th' Egyptian Tyrant gave command That Israel should depart his Land Israel the chosen Family of God. Among them dwelt the Holy One Juda his Sanctuary and Israel was his Throne II. The Sea beheld this Scene and did admire Each wave stood silently to see The Power of the Divinity They saw and fled the dreadful guide of Fire Aud Jordan too divided stood The Priests the sacred Ark bore through the yielding Flood III. Mount Sinai with great Horrour struck and dread Forgot her weight and in a trance Like a light Ram did skip and dance She fear'd and fain would hide her Palsy Head. The Hills their Mother Mountain saw The little Hills and like young sheep they stood in awe IV. What made thee to retreat thou Mighty Sea Tell me for never any shore Knew such a wondrous Tide before And thou great Jordan say what ailed thee Say sacred Mount what meant thy trance And you small under-hills why did you skip and dance V. You need not think it shame to own your fear What you dismaid the same would make The universal Fabrick shake The cause was great for Jacob's God was there That God who did the Rock subdue And made it melt in tears tho harder far than you The 148 Psalm Paraphrased I. O Come let all created force conspire A general Hymn of Praise to sing Join all ye Creatures in one solemn Quire And let your Theme be Heaven's Almighty King. II. Begin ye blest Attendants of his Seat Begin your high Seraphic lays 'T is just you should your Happiness is great And all you are to give again is Praise III. Ye glorious Lamps that rule both night and day Bring you your Allelujahs too To him that Tribute of Devotion pay Which once blind superstition gave to you IV. Thou first and fairest of material kind By whom his other works we see Subtile and active as pure thought and mind Praise him that 's Elder and more fair than thee V. Ye Regions of the Air his praises sing And all ye Virgin waters there Do you advantage to the Consort bring And down to us the Allelujah bear VI. In chaunting forth the great Jehovah's Praise Let these the upper Consort fill He spake and did you all from nothing raise As you did then so now obey his will. VII His will that fix'd you in a constant state And out a track for Natures wheel Here let it run sayd he and made it fate And where 's that Power which can this Law repeal VIII Ye Powers that to th' inferiour world retain Join you now with the Quire above And first ye Dragons try an higher strain And turn your angry hissings into Praise and Love. IX Let fire hail snow and vapours that ascend Unlock'd by Phoebus searching rays Let Stormy winds ambitiously contend And all their wonted force imploy in Praise X. Ye sacred tops which seem to brave the skies Rise higher and when men on you Religious rites perform and Sacrifice With their Oblations send your Praises too XI Ye Trees whose fruits both men and beasts consume Be you in Praises fruitful too Ye Cedars why have you such choice perfume But that sweet Incense should be made of you XII Ye Beasts with all the humble Creeping train Praise him that made your lot so high Ye Birds who in a nobler Province reign Send up your Praises higher than you â—ly XIII Ye sacred heads that wear Imperial gold Praise him that you with power arrays And you whose hands the Scale of Justice hold Be Just in this and pay your Debt of Praise XIV Let sprightly youth give vigour to the Quire Each Sex with one another vie Let feeble Age dissolv'd in Praise expire And Infants too in Hymns their tender voices try XV. Praise him ye Saints who Piety profess And at his Altar spend your days Ye seed of Israel your great Patron bleâ—s 'T is Manna this for Angels food is Praise A Pastoral On the death of his Sacred Majesty King CHARLES the Second Menalcas Thyrsis and Daphnis Thyr. WHat sad Menalcas Sure this pleasant shade Was ne're for such a mournful Tenant made All things smile round thee and throughout the Grove Nature displays a Scene of Joy and Love. But Shepherd where 's thy flock Sure they in some forbidden pastures stray Whilest here in sighs thou number'st out the day Men. Ah Thyrsis thou could'st witness heretofore What strange Affection to my flock I bore Thou know'st my Thyrsis the Arcadian Plain Could not afford a more industrious Swain But I no longer now that mind retain Thyr. What change so great but what Love's power
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
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
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
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
not so obliged will evidently appear from the proof of this one single Proposition That every one is not bound to do what is best The reasonableness of which Proposition appears from the very nature of the thing for since that which is Best is a Superlative it necessarily supposes the Positive to be good And if so then we are not bound to that which is best for if we were then that which is only good would be evil it being short of what we are bound to which is contrary to the supposition 8. This Argument I take to be Demonstrative and therefore 't would be a kind of Supererogation in me to alledge any more But however for the clearer eviction and stronger confirmation of this Assertion I farther consider that the Scripture consists of Counsels as well as Commands Now if some things are matter of Counsel onely 't is obvious to conclude two things 1. From their being counsell'd that they are good nothing being matter of Counsel but what is so and secondly from their being only counsell'd that they do not oblige and consequently that there are some degrees of good that we are not obliged to 9. It is farther observable that in Scripture there is mention made of a threefold Will of God. Rom. 12. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Will which is good that which is well-pleasing and that which is perfect The first of these denotes absolute Duty the two last the various degrees of Perfection and Heroic Excellence Thus for St. Paul to preach the Gospel to the Corinthians was an Act of strict Duty which he could not leave undone without incurring that woe which he annexes to the omission of it 1 Cor. 9. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But to preach without charging them was an instance of Generosity and in that respect there was room for boasting Thus again for a Jew to allot the tenth part of his Revenue every third year toward the relief of the Poor was an act of express Duty and in doing of that he would but satisfie the obligation of the Law But now if in his charitable contributions he should exceed that proportion according to the degrees of the excess so would the degrees of his Perfection be Thus again in the matter of Devotion daily Prayer is generally concluded to be a Duty and by some Criticks that it be twice perform'd in proportion to the returns of the Jewish Sacrifices Morning and Evening But now if a more generously disposed Christian should add a third time or out of abundance of zeal should come up to the Psalmist's resolution of Seven times a day will I praise thee this would be a free-will Offering well pleasing and of sweet savour but not commanded 10. From these and many other instances which if necessary I could easily produce it plainly appears that Religion does not consist in an indivisible point but has a Latitude and is capable of more and less and consequently there is room for voluntary Oblations and Acts of Heroic Piety 11. I know it is usually objected here that what is supposed to be thus Heroically perform'd is inclusively enjoyn'd by vertue of those comprehensive words Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy Soul c. But I conceive that all which is intended by that phrase will amount to no more than First a sincere love of God as 't is opposed to that which is partial and divided and secondly such a degree of loving him as admits of nothing into Competition with him And thus far reach the Boundaries of indispensable Duty it being impossible that he who does not love God in this sense and degree should keep his Commandments But beyond this there are higher degrees which because we may fall short of without sin are the more excellent when attain'd So that in this Precept of loving God as in all other instances of Religion there is a great latitude it being very possible for two Persons to love God sincerely and with their whole Soul and yet in different measures which is observ'd even among the Angels the Seraphins having their name from their excess of Love nay for the same Person always to love God sincerely and yet at some times to exceed himself and with his Saviour who to be sure never fail'd of necessary Duty to pray yet more earnestly 12. There is another Objection yet behind which I think my self concern'd to answer as well in my own defence as that of my Argument Some perhaps may be so weak to imagine that by asserting such a thing as Heroic Piety and that a Christian may do more than he is commanded I too much favour the Doctrine of Supererogation But I consider that for a Man to do more than he is commanded is an ambiguous expression and may denote either that he can perform the whole Law of God and more or that tho he fail of his Duty in many Instances and consequently with the rest of Mankind is concluded under Sin Yet in some others he may exceed it by pressing forward to some degrees of excellency he is not obliged to I do not assert the former of these but the latter And I think I have sufficiently proved that there are certain degrees in Religion which we are not obliged to under Pain of Sin and consequently that he who arrives so far does according to the latter notion of the Phrase do more then he is commanded 13. Having in the foregoing Periods stated the Notion of Heroic Piety and demonstrated that there is such a thing I proceed now to my third and last undertaking which was to offer some Perswasives to recommend the Practise of it First then I consider that Religion is the Perfection of a Man the improvement and accomplishment of that part of him wherein he resembles his Maker the pursuance of his best and last end and consequently his Happiness And will a man set bounds to his Happiness Will he be no more happy than he is commanded no more than what will just serve to secure him from a miserable Eternity Is not Happiness desirable for it self as well as for the avoiding of Misery Why then do we deal with it as with dangerous Physic weighing it by Grains and Scruples and nice Proportions Why do we drink so moderately of the River of Paradise so sparingly of the Well of Life Are we afraid of making too nigh advances to the State of Angels of becoming too like God of antedating Heaven Are we affraid our Happiness will flow in too thick upon us that we shall not bear up against the Tide but sink under the too powerful enjoyment Hereafter indeed when we are blest with the Beatific Vision and the Glories of the Divine Brightness shall flash too strong upon our Souls so that our Happiness begins to be lessen'd by its greatness We may then with the Angels that attend the Throne veil our Faces and divert some
intimate perception of the Divine Beauty All the true Followers of Jesus shall indeed feast with him at the great Supper but some shall be placed nearer to him than others and still there shall be a Beloved Disciple that shall lean on his Bosom I know this Doctrine concerning different degrees of Glory is and indeed what is there that is not very much question'd by some and peremptorily deny'd by others but since it is so highly agreeable to the goodness and bounty of God and to the Catholic Measures of Sense and Reason and is so mightily-favour'd if not expresly asserted in many places of Scripture I shall not here go about to establish the truth of it but taking it for granted do urge this as another consideration of great moment toward encouraging the practice of Heroic Piety 17. Fifthly and lastly I consider that We have indeed but very little time to serve God in The Life of man at longest is but short and considering how small a part of it we live much shorter If we deduct from the Computation of our Years as we must do if we will take a true estimate of our Life that part of our time which is spent in the incogitancy of Infancy and Childhood the impertinence and heedlesness of Youth in the necessities of Nature Eating Drinking Sleeping and other Refreshments in business and worldly Concerns engagements with Friends and Relations in the offices of Civility and mutual intercourse besides a thousand other unnecessary avocations we shall find that there is but a small portion left even for the Retirements of Study for our improvement in Arts and Sciences and other intellectual accomplishments But then if we consider what great disbursements of our time are made upon them also we shall find that Religion is crowded up into a very narrow compass so narrow that were not the rewards of Heaven matter of express Revelation 't would be the greatest Presumption imaginable to hope for them upon the condition of such inconsiderable Services Since then our time of serving God is so very short so infinitely disproportionate to the rewards we expect from him 't is but a reasonable piece of ingenuity to work with all our might and do as much in it as we can to supply the poverty of Time by frugal management and intenseness of affection to serve God earnestly vigorously and zealously and in one days Devotion to abbreviate the ordinary Piety of many years 'T is said of the Devil that he prosecuted his malicious designs against the Church with greater earnestness and vigour because he knew he had but a short time And shall not the same consideration prevail with a generous Soul to do as much for God and Religion as the Devil did against them 'T is a shame for him that has but a short part to act upon the Stage not to perform it well especially when he is to act it but once Man has but one state of Probation and that of an exceeding short continuance and therefore since he cannot serve God long he should serve him much employ every minute of his life to the best advantage thicken his Devotions hallow every day in his Kalendar by Religious exercises and every action in his Life by holy references and designments for let him make what haste he can to be wise Time will out-run him This is a Consideration of infinite moment to him that duly weighs it and he that thus numbers his days will find great reason to apply his heart to more than ordinary degrees of Wisdom CONTEMPLATION AND LOVE OR The Methodical Ascent of the Soul to God by steps of Meditation Nisi ad haec admitterer Non fuerat operae pretium nasci Senec. Nat. Quaest l. 1. Contemplation the First That 't is necessary Man should have some end 1. IN the Depth of Solitude and Silence having withdrawn my self not only from all worldly Commerce but from all thoughts concerning any thing without my own Sphere I retire wholly into my self and there speculate the Composition of my Intellectual nature 2. And here besides that faculty of Perception whereby I apprehend objects whether Material or Immaterial without any Material species which in the Cartesian Dialect I call Pure Intellect and that other of apprehending objects as present under a corporeal image or representation which I distinguish from the other power of Perception by the name of Imagination I say besides these two I observe an Appetitive Faculty whereby I incline to Apparent good and that either by a bare act of Propension or endeavour to unite with the agreeable object which answers to Pure Intellect and may be call'd Will or rather Volition or by such a propension of the Soul as is also accompany'd with a Commotion of the Blood and Spirits which answers to Imagination and is the same with the Passion of Love. 3. And of this I further meditate and by self reflexion experiment that altho the Perceptive Faculty be not always in actual exercise or at least not in the same degree of it For if according to the Cartesian Hypothesis there be no intermission of Cogitation yet 't is most certain that its applications are not always equal and uniform tho this I say be true as to the Perceptive yet I find by attending to the operations of my nature that the Appetitive faculty is not only always in Act but in the same degree of intension and Application As it never has any total intermission so neither is it subject as indeed every thing else in man is to ebbs and flows but acts uniformly as well as constantly This Amorous Biass and Endeavour of the Soul is like that stock of Motion which the French Philosopher supposes the Universe at first endow'd with which continues always at the same rate not to be abated or increas'd Not that this equality of Love is to be understood in reference to particular objects any more than that of Motion in reference to particular Bodyes but only that it gains in one part as much as it loses in another so as in the whole to remain equal and uniform 4. For however various and inconstant I may be in my love of particular objects according to the various apprehension I have of their respective excellencyes yet certainly I persue Happiness in general with the same earnestness and vigour and do not love or wish well to my self more at one time than at another 5. And indeed since all my inconstancy in the prosecution of particular objects proceeds from the variety of my Apprehensions concerning their Excellency and the only reason why I withdraw my Affection from this or that thing is because I discern or suspect that Happiness not to be there which I expected it is hence plainly argued à posteriori that I stand at all times equally affected towards Happiness it self As he that is therefore only variously affected toward the means according as he variously apprehends their serviceableness
Creation tho collected together into Extract and Spirit by the Chymistry of its great Author would be insufficient to afford me perfect Satisfaction but that 't is not in the Power of him that is Omnipotent to Create any good that can satisfy my Desires any more than to create a Body that shall fill Immense space And consequently that 't is impossible that any created good should be the end of man. The Prayer MY God My Creator who hast made all things for the present Entertainment but nothing for the End of Man grant I may ever justly discern between the goodness and the vanity of thy Creatures that I may not either by not heeding to the former become unthankful or by not heeding to the latter become Idolatrous O keep this Conviction still awake in me how insufficient all created good is towards true Felicity that I may not any longer with the mistaken Votaries of thy Son's Sepulcher seek the Living among the Dead Light in the Regions of Darkness and that I may no longer labour for that which is not bread Let me not add care labour and toil to the misery of unquench'd Thirst and unsatisfy'd Desires but since I am certain never to find Rest in the bosom of thy Creation grant I may be so wise at least as not to weary my self more in the fruitless persuit of it Withdraw I beseech thee my expectations of Happiness from all the works of thy hands and fix them there only where there is no disappointment or delusion even in the true Center of all Desire for the sake of thy tender compassions Amen Contemplation the Fourth That God who is the Author of man is likewise his true End and Center 1. WHen I Contemplate the Nature of man and consider how the Desire of Happiness is interwoven with it that Love is strong as Death and importunate as the Grave that there is a vehement and constant Verticity in the Soul towards perfect good which begins assoon and is as immortal as her self and withall how disproportionately this Amorous disposition of the Soul is gratify'd by any entertainment whether domestic or forreign she can meet with in the Circle of created good I find it necessary to conclude that the great Being who commanded me to exist is so every way perfect and all-sufficient as to answer that vast stock of desires our Natures come fraught withall into the world since otherwise which is absurd to suppose of all the Creatures in it Man would be the most miserable 2. For what man of thoughts is there who after a thorough Conviction that he can neither get rid of his desires nor among the Provisions of Nature have them fully gratify'd would not immediatly throw up his Title to Immortality if he thought himself arriv'd to the Meridian of his Happiness and that he must never expect to be in a better Condition than he is For to have enlarg'd desires and nothing to satisfy them is such a contrivance for misery that 't is thought by some to be the Portion of Hell and to make up the very Formality of Damnation 3. But to our great Consolation 't is wholly in our own power whether it shall be always so with us or no. There is a Being whose perfections are answerable to our Desires He that made us can satisfy every Appetite he has planted in us and he that is Happy in reflecting upon himself can make us so too by the direct view of his Glory He can entertain all our facultys our understandings as he is Truth and our wills as he is goodness and that in the Highest degree because he is infinite in both He can more than employ all our Powers in their utmost Elevation for he is every way Perfect and all-sufficient yea he is altogether Lovely 4. But to evince more particularly and distinctly that God is the true End of man I shall consider whether the conditions requisite to his being so are found in him Now these can be no other than these two in general 1st that he be absolutely good and perfect in himself so as to be able to fill and satisfy the whole capacity of our Desires and 2ly that he be willing that man shall partake of this his Transcendent Fullness so as actually one time or other to fix the weight of his Appetite and become his Center If therefore these two conditions are found in God he has all that is requisite to make him our End. And that they are is now to be made appear 5. First then that God is absolutely good and perfect in himself so as to be able to fill and satisfy the whole capacity of our desires There are several Topics in the Metaphysics from whence I might infer this but I shall confine my present speculation to this one that God is the First Being This is a very reasonable Postulatum it being too obvious to need any proof that there is a First Being or that by the First Being is meant God. It remains therefore that we try what advantage may be made of it 6. When therefore I consider God as the First Being I am from thence in the first place led to conclude that he has eminently and in a most excellent manner in himself all kinds and degrees of perfection that exist loosely and seperately in all second Beings And that not only because the Effect cannot possibly exceed the vertue of the cause any more than it can proceed from no cause which is the ground Cartesius builds upon when he proves the existence of God from the objective reality of his Idea but because I further observe that in the Scale of Being all ascension is by addition and that what is dispers'd in the Inferiour is collected and that after a more excellent manner in the Superiour Thus in Vegetables there is bare life in Sensitives Vegetative life and sense in Rationals Vegetative life sense and reason and all this either formally or eminently with Intelligence in Angels And since there is such an Harmonical Subordination among second Beings so that the Superiour contains all the perfection of the Inferiour with a peculiar excellence of its own superadded I think I have fair grounds to conclude that the absolutely First Being has in his rich Essence all the scatter'd excellencies of the subordinate ones in a more perfect manner than they themselves have with some peculiar excellence of his own besides Now tho a Being thus accumulatively perfect and excellent would be beyond all Conception great and glorious and would employ an Eternity in Contemplation and Love we have yet seen but an Arme of this Sea of Beauty and been enlightned only with the Back-parts of his Glory For if God be the First Being as is here supposed I may further conclude that he is also the First Good Good and Being being convertible and every thing having so much Good in it as it has of Entity and no more and if he be the First