GRAPES FROM CANAAN OR THE Believers present taste of future Glory Expressed in a short Divine POEM The issue of spare Hours And Published at the Request and for the Entertainment of those whose hopes are above their present enjoyments 1 Cor. 13.12 For now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known 1 Joh. 3.2 Now are we the sons of God and it doth not appear yet what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is London Printed by T. L. for the Author and are to be sold at the sign of the Greyhound in Pauls Church-yard 1658. To the Right Honorable Francis Rous Esq Provost of Eaton and one of the Council to his Highness the Lord Protector Honorable Sir I Hope You will not conceive that I hold any Compliance with the scribling humour of this age or that as dark as I am I should so little see into my self as not to know my rude and undigested Labours unworthy publick light When I first design'd within my self the composure of this ensuing Poem my Thoughts were not in the least tendency for a Publication yet through the perswasion of some Friends whose better judgements I could not but value above mine own private Opinion I have sont my unfledg'd Muse abroad into the World humbly assuming the boldness to shrowd it under the wing of Your Honours Protection assuring my self it will find the better welcom for the name of the Patron Sir This small Manuel I confess comes towards you untrimmed its Innocency being its best Dress and its Poetry lying more in Feet than Fancy yet is it Orthodox I hope and Theologically substantial The subject matter is Divine answering Your Affections Sublime not unbeseeming Your Personage most Necessary and therefore not unworthy Your serious Thoughts And for the Meanness of the Author the Heathen man pleads for me Non quis sed quid dicit attendito not who speaks but what is spoken ought to be considered This little Volume as it proceeds from me hath not the least enforcement of a Tolle lege written upon it yet not to disown the in-comings of Divine assistance like the stone Garamantides habet intus Aureas guttas it hath Golden Drops within it self enriching the believing Soul with a lively hope of a blissful immortality My principal inducement of Dedicating this to Your Honor is the remembrance of undserved Favours which challenge more than an airy Complement at my hands The sing alar Love and Respect You bore to my good Father while he lived and the real Testimony of Your continued Affection to my self hath engaged my most active Thoughts to study something which may in some measure render me sensible of both These few lines therefore the first Fruits of my weaker Attainments of this Nature I present with all Humility to Your Acceptance in hope that as they may prove a Mite cast into the Treasure of GOD'S glory and the publick good so they will signifie to Your Honour a Mind sensible of and a Heart thankeful for the many free and noble Favours vouchsafed to my Relations and my Self Sir I am very confident Your judicious Eye may running read many rude unpolish't Lines in this Draught of Eternity and therefore I make it my humble Request That as the Painter of old drew Alexander with his finger upon his defective Eye So Your known Candour would put a favourable gloss upon my imperfections and dash out my Errata by a charitable connivence In the confidence whereof I shall only raise the Application of my humble Suite to Almighty God That he would make You no less faithful in than able for his Service that after You have had a glimpse of his glory in the Kingdom of Grace You may have a fulness of his grace in the Kingdom of Glory with the which Thoughts upon my Heart in the best seasons of my Soul I shall be ever ready to approve my self Your Honors humble Servant in the Faith of Christ Francis Taylor The Author to the Christian READER PLace not on earth thy chief delight In which there is more black than white VVho set their Hearts on things below And on the World their Thoughts bestow Of Heavens joy they little know Earth's an Impostumated Bubble A Map of Misery and Trouble Our Silver here is mixt with Dross Our sweet with sour our gain with loss No comfort here without a cross Let Heaven be thy Meditation Climbe thither in thy Contemplation VVho such a Pearl have in their eye The worlds Enjoyments by and by VVill trample on as Vanity No seeds of woe are to be found I' th' furrows of that holy ground Yea that Caelestial Paradise A stranger is to sin and vice No Serpent there is to entice E're Death thy Body in the wombe Of Mother-Earth again entombe Be sure to get an interest In that prepared place of rest Whose happiness can't be exprest Bid Earth adieu and fix thy Love Upon those endless joyes above Let no Decoy thy Heart entice But still pursue the Pearl of Price Till thou arrive in Paradise Deo Opt. Max. THou great Jehovah who alone dost dwell In Light and Glory inaccessible My mind enlighten help me to unfold The glory that those blessed ones behold VVho are translated far above the sky Into the Region of Eternity Inspire and actuate my trembling Muse VVith heav'nly Raptures let thy pow'r infuse Into her such a rare activity That she above the dreggy earth may fly And be ambitious of a glimpse at least Of glory and the Saints eternal rest Clear up her pur-blind eye that she may see VVithin the vail what ever is to be Seen by the eye of Faith and may descry The blessed Mansions in Eternity Then touch her stammering tongue that she their glory May pencil out with thine own Oratory VVhich best befits a subject so divine And makes it with the greater lustre shine The Gordian knot of glory to unty VVould puzzel the acutest ingeny O let thy wisdom then my thoughts direct Unveile my dark and clouded intellect Guide my unskilful hand that so I may VVithout a blot heav'ns happiness pourtray This is indeed a mountain too sublime For such an infant Muse as mine to clime Yet if thy sacred spirit lead the way And me conduct for which I humbly pray I shall adventure briefly to relate And draw a Map of the eternal state Of those who in the fragrant bosome ly Of soul inamouring felicity And since this is a task that doth require The lofty aires of an Angelick Lyre Yea since it is a subject so profound An Ocean that no bottom hath nor bound I thee implore and Lord grant my desire That what I can't express I may admire To his Honored Cozin Mr. Francis Taylor upon his Divine Poem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
silver into liquid Oare The Land encircling Ocean nay more With greater beauty it and sweetness can The bosome of Dame Nature garnish than The eye e're saw each star into a sun It can convert and when it so hath done Can make those suns far bigger and more bright Than that which gilds the heaven with its light And yet the height of Evangelical Wisdome out-shines and far surpasseth all That eye ear or the heart of men could ever See hear or know though heightned with endeavor And this so rare and admirable light On Earth discovering unto our sight The treasures of Caelestial and Divine Wisdome in Christ is to the richest Mine Of Gold but as a grain yea lesser than A drop of water to the Ocean When with these sempiternal joyes above It is compar'd which by the God of Love For those ordain'd are that have stricken sayl And safely landed are within the vayl Oh then how far How far bayond all measure Doth the sublimity of heavens pleasure Transcend the most enlarg'd capacity Of men For humane knowledge 't is too high It is a Fruit of our unhappy Fall With Adam and the sad Estate of all That so journe in this vale of misery To know heavens glory but imperfectly From which our clearer and compleater knowledge When we 're admitted into Zion Colledge Shall differ as a little Infants doth From his who is arriv'd at perfect growth As knowledge by a glass from apprehension Of real objects till the great convention That fulnesse we of light can't pierce nor pry Into the bottomlesse profundity Of endlesse joyes nor in that brightnesse dwell Which is to mortals unapproachable This is reserved to the day of Doom When Jesus Christ the Spouses lovely Groom Shall her conduct into his Fathers tent And without spot her there to him present Our Intellects upon necessity Irradiated supernaturally Must be with extraordinary light Ere they can have a clear and perfect sight Of future bliss or fully comprehend The brightness of those joyes which know no end It is as easie for a mortal man the Globe of Earth to compass with a span Or in a Nut-shell the Ocean to contain As to describe exactly every vein Of Heavens Golden Mine Philosophers of old could say that even As Owles eyes are to th' shining Lamp of Heaven So are the sharpest and most piercing eyes Of pregnant wits to Natures mysteries Oh then How strangely would they dazled be And even struck stark blind should they but see The sparkling lustre and excessive height Of Heavens secrets and immortal light But though the whole we cannot fully know Yet part we may consider here below Although of that o're-flowing Fountain we Can't have a full draught yet a taste may be Attain'd on Earth though the whole Harvest can't Be here enjoy'd by th' most sublimed Saint Yet of the first-Fruits we a brief survey May take the Scriptures to this end display And shadow out a glympse by things that are Esteemed here most excellent and rare HEAVENS GLORY Set out by its PROPERTIES THe Glory of the Saints eternal rest May by its Properties be well exprest Heavens Altitude THat blessed place which Saints by Faith descry Is set out by a mountain great and high It hath its scituation far above The Sun and stars which in their Orbs do move Above those glorious Luminaries which With beams of light this lower-world enrich In power and pride are worldlings oft-times high And though they could their Nests build in the sky So firmly that they thought none could remove them Yet shal the saints be shortly far above them Their Eagle on his sacred wings shall bear Them far above the Element of fear Their proper house and place of rest is even Where Christ is in the Empyrean Heaven A City whose aspiring walls desie The scaling Ladders of the Enemy A Fort erected far above the skies That 's too too strong for humane batteries A Castle reared on a towring Rock No silver Key can ever it unlock It fears no underminings and the shot Of malice it is far above I wor. The arrows which are up against it sent Do with redoubled force rebound and rent The hairy scalps of those who let them fly From off the string so inconsid'rately Heavens Magnificence IF all the Architects on Earth should strive And lay their heads together to contrive A stately Palace and had all the gems And precious stones in Princes Diadems Yea all the Diamonds in the world to set Into it and to beautifie it yet It would be doubtless in comparison To Heaven but a darksome dungeon The Porch of that celestial Habitation Doth fill the minds of men with admiration Our dazelled eyes unable are to pry Into the beauty of th' enamel'd sky All precious stones when laid together are Not so refulgent as one single star What glory in the Presence Chamber then Shall Saints amaze when they are from the den And cave of Earth advanc'd above the sky To reign in Heaven to eternity Fulgentius eying well the Senate House Of Rome which was exceeding glorious Did both its bulk and bravery contemne As nothing to the New Jerusalem That Cities pavement is of Gold most pure What are the Hangings then and Furniture How Orient are those Jewels which are set Into the frame of that rare Cabinet Those rarities on Earth which oft invite Our eyes and ravish them with much delight Appear but vile and fordid in their eyes Who with a sight of heavens embroideries Made happy are a glorious place no doubt It is where God doth all his cost lay out It needs must be a stately Fabrick where Wisdom contrives and Bounty doth not spare In heaven as we read in sacred story There is a kingdom crowns thrones weight of glory Now wonder 't is to me the violent Take heaven by force 't is so magnificent I marvel more that many Christians are No more contentious in this Holy War Heavens Purity IN Purity this blessed soyle doth passe Refined Gold and most transparent Glasse It s Emblem'd by the saphire stone which hath A precious vertue in 't as Pliny saith Purity to preserve none thither come Stain'd with the births of sins too pregnant womb Sometimes again 't is represented by The sparkling Em'rald whose rare quality Is poyson to expel heaven is so pure That sin and sinners it will not endure That air is from malignant vapours freed No Viper of corruption there doth breed The Serpent which to sin did man intice Was long since cast out of that Paradise There no assaults of sinful on-sets are When once a spotless soul a virgin star Hath in that Orbe caelestial its station It need not fear the rape of a temptation Upon that sacred stage sin acts no part The Eyes are there no Panders to the Heart No sinful tinctures there of inquination Be speckle shall the chosen generation No Feaver there of Lust is to be found All Vice is banish'd from
agree no doubt Though by the way they many times fal our When once Christs harp in th' ears of saints hath sounded The evil spirit shal be quite confounded VVhen to the highest peg of bliss our strings Shal once be wounded up by the King of Kings No discord in our Musick then shal be In heaven there 's a perfect harmony But stay my Muse forbear to prosecute This lofty theame lest thou be strucken mure By th' ne're enough admired depth and height Of heavens bliss transcending al conceit None to the life can limne out heavens glory Although they study nought but Oratory Saint Austin by a Bishop of his time Being requested earnestly to climb Up in his thoughts to the Emperial Court Above and of its joyes to make report VVhile he addrest himself unto the task Attempting heavens beauty to unmask VVhil'st on the wing he soar'd of contemplation And in the depth was of his meditation A voice articulate distinct and clear Arrived at the portal of his ear Saying what mean'st thou Austin dost thou ever Hope to effect what thou dost now endeavour Dost thou th' expanded Ocean in thy hand E're think to measure or to graspe the Land VVithin thy shallow fist Leave altogether The search of heaven till thou commest thither If that bright star was by an heavenly voice Silenc'd and from the handling of so choice A theame prohibited How then may I Into those sacred secrets dare to pry Let it in brief suffice to know that al The Rhetorick of the Quire angelical Is not enough to reach the top and height Of heavens glory pleasure and delight Nor al the bitter sighs and hellish groans Of damned spirits and tormented ones Who labour under an eternal cross Sufficient to bewaile so great a loss Practical Conclusions From the former DISCOURSE THey that expect a glorious translation Must lead on Earth a gracious conversation Of doing wel it never must repent them A common course of life must not content them Their bosome-sins they must est-soon discard Which do their motion heaven-ward retard How pure had they need be who fix their eye Upon a place free from impurity In righteousness they others must excel Who hope for heaven where righteousness doth dwel In Glories famous Universitie They Graduates can never look to be Who are not in the school of grace with store Of Piety well principled before Holiness is heavens happiness a sign Heaven was not built to be a sty for swine No sinful souls may there themselves embark As unclean creatures once in Noahs ark The wine of angels never was nor shal Be pressed out to fill old casks withal Garlands of Glory they shal never wear In whom the flow'rs of Grace don't first appear The Second Practical Conclusion O Let the thoughts of heavens endless joy Bear up thy heart when sorrows would annoy Under temptations let thy soul be glad An interest in heaven and be sad Although the Lead of trouble down-ward move Yet let the Cork of Faith still swim above This worlds afflictions which are transitory Hold no comparison with the weight of glory When melancholy did the scepter sway In Caesar's heart he then was wont to say Remember thou art Caesar and thereby Dethroned that usurping Enemy When outward crosses on thy spirit lye Make a persume of a perplexity By musing often on thine interest In God in Christ and in that place of rest Where swallow'd up all worldly sorrows shal Where in the vision beatifical St. Basil doth of certain Martyrs write Exposed naked in a winters night To the inclemency of wind and weather Being the next day to be burnt together That in this plight they were no whit dismaid But comfortably to each other said Sharp is the cold but sweet is Paradise This torment 's nothing to that pearl of price The Way is thorny and our feet may gall Our journies end wil make amends for al. Let us a while endure the cold and than The Patriarchs bosome warm us shal again Let our feet burn that we may when we dye Dance with the Angels to eternity And so much joy there is in store for me Said blessed Philpot that although I be Up in a place of doleful darkness pent Yet wretched sinner I cannot lament But night and day I am as full of glee As if from crosses I were wholly free Yea ne're was I in al my life before So cheer'd as now I 'm landing at the shore The contemplation of eternity Pulls out the sting of worldly misery It turns the hissing serpent of temptation Into a blossoming rod of consolation It makes the oyl of gladness swim and lye Above the water of adversity It out of ev'ry cross doth take the core It sucks the poyson out of every sore It draws the anguish out of every groan And cutteth each calamity of the stone They cannot chuse but lead a joyful life In whom the thoughts of heaven are most rise That chrystal fountain to perplexed hearts Sweet draughts of consolation oft imparts The Third Practical Conclusion O Let there be within thy soul a dearth Of worldly thoughts lest doting on the earth Thou forfeit those refined sweets which lie Safe in the bosome of eternitie Cold comfort is in creatures to be found Contentment grows not in such barren ground Heaven is the spring from whence a lone doth flow Sweet satisfaction to the faints below Where others set their hearts there set thy feet Such counsel for a christian is most meet Spend not thy coin for that which is not bread But with disdain on earths enjoyments tread Fasten thine eyes upon that glorious state For which the saints with expectation waite Part not with that invaluable treasure For a few drops of moment any pleasure O hazard not thy self to endless woes For things that are as fading as the Rose What fruit hath Dives of his rich attire Or dainty fare in the infernal fire Of her dissolved Gems what pleasing tast Hath Cleoparra now her life is past What sweetness now finds Heliogabalus In the Elixars of his various And costly Cates VVhat pleasures now arise From his unheard of sensualities O toy not then with beggarly delights Divert thine eye from earths inchanting sights Relish no earthly joyes nor highly prise The gilded pompe of worldly phantasies What cares and fears gripe those who thus excel Rich discontent is but a glorious hell Though thou to so journ here on earth art driven Yet let thy Faith be breathing still in heaven O fix thine eye upon thy future station Let that be floating on thy meditation The matchless glory which thy present state Succeedeth time shal never antiquate Let all thy studies to that center tend The blessedness of heaven knows no end Be sure to make eternity the sphere Of all thy thoughts even while thou livest here And let thy contemplation often be Prying upon thy future dignity Be ever thinking thus Oh when shall I Take up my
to be had In any other if they be not clad VVith his unspotted robes of righteousness They can't be sav'd in any other dress There 's no name under heaven that can ease us Of sins enthralment but the name of Jesus Saints by his merits only do attain Eternal life which is the greatest gain Good works to heavens kingdom are the way The cause of reigning that we dare not say Christ is the Door and there 's no entring in But by his bloud which clonseth from all sin He is the curtain the refreshing screen Us and Gods scorching ire that stands between The deluge of his wrath no man can shun Unless with speed into this ark he run They lose themselves for ever who assay To go to heaven any other way The Fourth Mark THeir souls oft soar above the spangled sky And unto Heaven in contemplation fly Mount Tabor they do frequently ascend To eye the glory that may there be kenn'd They heaven alwayes have within their eye VVhich makes them earthly trifles to defie Their hearts are only fix'd on things above These are the chiefest objects of their love The blessed God their thoughts still dwel upon An eartely saint's a contradiction Though they to so journ here below are driven Yet is their conversation still in heaven There is their treasure there their chief estate From which no wile their hearts can separate How to be great on earth is not their plot They use the world as though they us'd it not The pleasures of this life they little heed Their thoughts upon the fairest objects feed They 'r alwayes pressing forward tow'rds the mark And long to taste the Manna in heav'ns ark The Fifth Practical Conclusion O Long to be installed in the throne Of endless glory let thy spirit groan After a full and plenary possession Of blessedness transcending all expression Pant after that unparallell'd estate One mite whereof surpasseth all conceit Be like the Bird of Paradise which they say Being intangled in the snare straightway Begins to strive and never giveth o're Till she enjoy her freedom as before Sing Simeons swan-like song at his decease Lord let thy servant now depart in peace Welcome the messenger of death which brings Most joyful tydings from the King of Kings Which tells the saints of an approaching crown Of matchless glory honour and renown Death is the chariot which without delay Saints to their Fathers house soon bears away Death lodgeth souls i' th' twinckling of an eye In the sweet bosome of felicity Death is to humble penitents no less Then a short entrance into happiness Their nasty loathsome rags death frees them from And gives them change of raiment in their room Death is the saints ascension day to bliss Their marriage day with Jesus Christ it is Death is the Charter of their liberty The period of their pain and misery Death gives them an immunity from sin And frees them from the fears they once were in Death is the bane of woe the grave of vice The portal opening into Paradise Where grace that in the bud was here below Into the flow'r of glory straight shal blow Where saints immortal souls made more divine Shal with the Di'monds of perfection shine Where they to their unspeakable delight Of God himself shal have a perfect sight VVhere in their wills there shal a likeness be To God in holiness and purity VVhere having shot the gulph of Death they shal VVear on their heads a crown imperial VVhere the rich caskets of their souls shal be O'relaid with glories best embroiderie VVhere in the river they of pleasures shal Be bath'd whose sweetness is perpetual VVhere no contaminating tincture e're Shall their unspotted purity besmear VVhere God himself unto the saints shall be A spring of life to perpetuitie Where they shal in the fragrant bosome liâ— Of their beloved to eternitie Where saints by vertue of their Saviours merit Shal alwayes have fresh in-comes of the spirit VVhere the enammel of their glory shal Never wear off nor soiled be at all VVhere they shal have a rich redundancy Of peace joy comfort and serenity Where they their safety shal behold from all Insulting foes and their eternal thrall VVhere they a glorious kingdom shal receive Of which no power on earth can them bereave VVhere they shal be partakers of that joy VVhich will them satisfie but never cloy VVhere Baca into Beracha shal be Converted mourning into melody VVhere brinish tears shal never dim their eyes Nor shal their ears be frighted more with cryes Where sorrows ne're shal damp their hearrs again Nor shal their senses be disturb'd with pain VVhere they no more shal persecuted be By Satans imps for their integrity VVhere saints with sparkling Gems of glory shal Be deck'd and not be envi'd for 't at all VVhere length of years without the least decay Of strength they shal enjoy yea where for ay They shal be blessed with the love of many And need not fear the jealoufie of any VVhere for their labour a Quietus est Each saint shal have and ever be at rest Where life and immortality they shall Have for their death in Christ and Christ for all The Conclusion of the whole THe Glory that within the curtain lies Can't measur'd be by our capacities There 's more within the vaile than by the best And most sublimed saint can be exprest Grace may believe 't but Reason cannot sound The bottom of 't though never so profound In fathoming this rich inheritance What 's all acuteness but meer ignorance He cannot reach this glory that 's indu'de VVith knowledge in the largest latitude If Natures secretary did not know The cause why Euripus did ebbe and flow O how then would his Reason puzz'led be To sound the Ocean of Eternity VVhat the inspired Pen-man doth relate Of natural men and unregenerate Respectively to spir'tuals that they are Not able them to comprehend or bear The same more truly may asserted be In reference unto Eternity 'T is with the prospect of eternity As to the Ocean it is with the eye It may its surface not its bottom see And so some dark and glimmering knowledge we May have of heaven but no mortal eye Into its in side able is to pry The blind-man half restored to his sight Said Lo I see by this imperfect light Men walk as trees So may a pur-blind eye Glance at the riches of Eternity Some few weak parcels of the knowledge we May of it gain but not its Centre see He that was carri'd up above the sky To see a Landskip of Felicity To take a view of those transcendencies Heaven was enrich'd withal what there his eyes Had seen to their ineffable content At his return with what astonishment Doth he relate it Yea he doth confess Words were too weak his Vision to express The ravishing and beatifical Sights which his eyes had blessed been withal VVere not to be pourtrai'd in all their glory By th'