Proposition in the understanding before there is any misapplication in the will and 't is through the swimming of the head that the feet slip and lose their station And yet the sinner is no way excusable for this his deception because 't is the ignorance of that which he habitually knows and he might have attended better and 't was his fault that he did not 9. And 't is the recovering and awaking up into this Conviction that is the Principle of Repentance and reformation of life When a man by the aid of grace and the use of due attention resumes his interrupted Judgment of Sins being the greatest evil he then comes again to himself forms new resolutions never to commit it and returns to the wisdom of the just So great reason had the Psalmist to pray O grant me understanding and I shall live THE PRAYER O My God who art pure light and in whom there is no darkness at all who art pure Love and hatest nothing but sin and hatest that infinitely give me an heart after thine own heart that I may also abhor it without measure and without end Open thou mine eyes that I may see those two wondrous things of thy Law the Beauty of Holiness and the deformity of sin Inspire me with that Charity which seeketh not her own that I may ever propose and follow that great and excellent end which thou proposest that I may ever adhere to that which is simply and absolutely best and never for any self-advantage disturb the order of thy Creation O let me never so far abuse those facultys thou hast given me as to thwart the designs of thy goodness and wisdom and to interrupt that Harmony wherein thou so delightest But let all my designs be generous unselvish and sincere so as chiefly to rejoyce at the good of thy Creation at whose very material Beauty the Morning Stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy Holy Father 't is thy will that this thy great Family should be prosperous and happy and the better part of it thy Angels strictly conform to it O let this thy will be done here on Earth as it is in Heaven and grant that every member of this great Body may so study the good of the whole that thou may'st once more review the works of thy hands and with a Fatherly complacency pronounce them good Grant this for the sake of him who gave his life for the Happiness of the world thy Son Jesus Amen II. GIve me wisdom that sitteth by thy throne and reject me not from among thy children That wisdom which was with thee from the Beginning which knoweth all thy works and was present when thou madest the world and knew what was acceptable in thy sight and right in thy Commandments O send her out of thy holy Heavens and from the throne of thy glory that being present she may labour with me that I may know and thoroughly consider what an evil it is to affront thy Authority to break through the bounds which thou hast set to rebel against the most excellent and divine part of my nature and to oppose that which thou lov'st and which is of all things the most lovely O let thy wisdom dwell with me let my loins be always girt and this my Light always burning that I may never be deceiv'd through the deceitfulness of sin nor seek death in the errour of my life Thy words have I hid within my heart that I might not sin against thee O grant me understanding and I shall live Keep I beseech thee this conviction still fresh and fully awake in me that Sin is the greatest of all evils that so the fear of none may ever drive me to do the thing which thy Soul hates Consider and hear me O Lord my God lighten mine eyes that I sleep not in death Amen Amen AN IDEA OF HAPPINESS IN A LETTER to a FRIEND ENQUIRING Wherein the greatest Happiness attainable by Man in this Life does consist Sollicitis vitam consumimus annis Torquemurque metu caecaque cupidine rerum Aeternisque Senes curis dum quaerimus aevum Perdimus nullo votorum fine beati Victuros agimus semper nec vivimus unquam Manilius lib. 4. OXFORD Printed at the THEATER 1687. An Idea of Happiness c. SIR 1. THO you have been pleas'd to assign me the Task of an Angel and in that Respect have warranted me to disobey you yet since a considerable part of that experimental Knowledg which I have of Happiness is owing to the Delight which I take in your vertuous and endearing Friendship I think 't is but reasonable I should endeavour to give you an Idea of that whereof you have given me the Possession 2. You desire to know of me wherein the greatest Happiness attainable by man in this Life does consist And here tho I see my self engaged in a work already too difficult for me yet I find it necessary to enlarge it For since the greatest Happiness or Summum Bonum of this Life is a Species of Happiness in general and since it is call'd Greatest not because absolutely perfect and compleat but inasmuch as it comes nearest to that which indeed is so it will be necessary first to state the Notion of Happiness in General and then to define wherein that Happiness does consist which is perfect and compleat before I can proceed to a Resolution of your Question 3. By Happiness in the most general Sense of the word I understand nothing else but an Enjoyment of any Good. The least Degree of Good has the same Proportion to the least Degree of Happiness as the greatest has to the greatest and consequently as many ways as a man enjoys any Good so many ways he may be said to be happy neither will the Mixture of Evil make him forfeit his Right to this Title unless it either equals the Good he enjoys or exceeds it And then indeed it does but the Reason is because in strictness of Speaking upon the whole Account the man enjoys no Good at all For if the Good and the Evil be equal-balanc'd it must needs be indifferent to that man either to be or not to be there being not the least Grain of good to determine his Choice So that he can no more be said to be happy in that Condition than he could before he was born And much less if the Evil exceeds the Good For then he is not only not happy but absolutely and purely miserable For after an exact Commensuration supposed between the Good and the Evil all that remains over of the Evil is pure and simple Misery which is the Case of the Damn'd And when 't is once come to this whatever some Mens Metaphysics may perswade them I am very well satisfied that 't is better not to be than to be But now on the other side if the Good does never so little out-weigh the Evil that Overplus of Good is as
here despair to please my mind Her sweetest Honey is so mix'd with Gall. Come then I ll try how 't is to be alone Live to my self a while and be my own II. I 've try'd and bless the happy change So happy I could almost vow Never from this Retreat to range For sure I nor can be so blest as now From all th' allays of bliss I here am free I pitty others and none envy me III. Here in this shady lonely Grove I sweetly think my hours away Neither with Business vex'd nor Love Which in the World bear such Tyrannic sway No Tumults can my close Apartment find Calm as those Seats above which know no Storm nor Wind. IV. Let Plots and News embroil the State Pray what 's that to my Books and Me Whatever be the Kingdom 's Fate Here I am sure t' enjoy a Monarchy Lord of my self accountable to none Like the first Man in Paradice alone V. While the Ambitious vainly sue And of the partial Stars complain I stand upon the Shore and view The mighty Labours of the distant Maâ—n I 'm flush'd with silent joy and smile to see The Shafts of Fortune still drop short of me VI. Th' uneasie Pageantry of State And all the plagues to Thought and Sense Are far remov'd I 'm plac'd by Fate Out of the Road of all Impertinence Thus tho my fleeting Life runs swiftly on 'T will not be short because 't is all my own The Infidel I. FArewel Fruition thou grand Cruel Cheat Which first our hopes dost raise and then defeat Farewel thou Midwife to Abortive Bliss Thou Mystery of fallacies Distance presents the Object fair With Charming features and a graceful air But when we come to seize th' inviting prey Like a Shy Ghost it vanishes away II. So to th' unthinking Boy the distant Sky Seems on some Mountain's Surface to relie He with ambitious haste climbs the ascent Curious to touch the Firmament But when with an unweari'd pace Arriv'd he is at the long-wish'd-for place With Sighs the sad defeat he does deplore His Heaven is still as distant as before III. And yet 't was long e're I could throughly see This grand Impostor's frequent Treachery Tho often Fool'd yet I should still dream on Of Pleasure in Reversion Tho still he did my hopes deceive His fair Pretensions I would still believe Such was my Charity that tho I knew And found him false yet I would think him true IV. But now he shall no more with shews deceive I will no more enjoy no more believe Th' unwary Jugler has so often shewn His Fallacies that now they 'r known Shall I trust on the Cheat is plain I will not be impos'd upon again I 'll view the Bright appearance from afar But never try to catch the falling Star. On a Musician supposed to be mad with Musick I. POOR dull mistake of low Mortality To call that Madness which is Ecstacy 'T is no disorder of the Brain His Soul is only set t' an higher strain Out-soar he does the Sphere of Common sense Rais'd to Diviner Excellence But when at highest pitch his Soul out-flies Not Reason's Bounds but those of vulgar Eyes II. So when the Mystic Sibyl's Sacred Breast Was with Divine Infusions possest 'T was Rage and Madness thought to be Which was all Oracle and Mystery And so the Soul that 's shortly to Commence A Spirit free from dregs of Sense Is thought to rave when She discourses high And breathes the lofty strains of Immortality III. Music thou Generous Ferment of the Soul Thou universal Cement of the whole Thou Spring of Passion that dost inspire Religious Ardours and Poetic Fire who 'd think that Madness should b' ascrib'd to thee That mighty Discord to thy Harmony But 't was such ignorance that call'd the Gift Divine Of various Tongues Rage and th' effects of Wine IV. But thou Seraphic Soul do thou advance In thy sweet Ecstacy thy pleasing Trance Let thy brisk passions mount still higher Till they joyn to the Element of Fire Soar higher yet till thou shalt calmly hear The Music of a well-tun'd Sphere Then on the lumpish mass look down and thou shalt know The Madness of the World for groveling still below The Consolation I. I Grant 't is bad but there is some relief In the Society of Grief 'T is sweet to him that mourns to see A whole house clad in Sorrow's Livery Grief in Communion does remiss appear Like harsher sounds in Consort which less grate the Ear. II. Men would not Curse the Stars did they dispence In common their ill Influence Let none be rich and Poverty Would not be thought so great a Misery Our discontent is from comparison Were better states unseen each man would like his own III. Should partial Seas wreck my poor Ship alone I might with cause my Fate bemoan But since before I sink I see A Numerous Fleet of Ships descend with me Why don't I with content my breath resign I will and in the greater ruine bury mine The Choice Stet quicunque volet potens Aulae culmine lubrico c. I. NO I shan't envy him whoe're he be That stands upon the Battlements of State Stand there who will for me I 'd rather be secure than great Of being so high the pleasure is but small But long the Ruine if I chance to fall II. Let me in some sweet shade serenely lye Happy in leisure and obscurity Whilst others place their joys In popularity and noise Let my soft minutes glide obscurely on Like subterraneous streams unheard unknown III. Thus when my days are all in silence past A good plain Country-man I 'll dye at last Death cannot chuse but be To him a mighty misery Who to the World was popularly known And dies a Stranger to himself alone The Meditation I. IT must be done my Soul but 't is a strange A dismal and Mysterious Change When thou shalt leave this Tenement of Clay And to an unknown somewhere Wing away When Time shall be Eternity and thou Shalt be thou know'st not what and live thou know'st not how II. Amazing State no wonder that we dread To think of Death or view the Dead Thou' rt all wrapt up in Clouds as if to thee Our very Knowledge had Antipathy Death could not a more Sad Retinue find Sickness and Pain before and Darkness all behind III. Some Courteous Ghost tell this great Secrecy What 't is you are and we must be You warn us of approaching Death and why May we not know from you what 't is to Dye But you having shot the Gulph delight to see Succeeding Souls plunge in with like uncertainty IV. When Life 's close Knot by Writ from Destiny Disease shall cut or Age unty When after some Delays some dying Strife The Soul stands shivering on the Ridge of Life With what a dreadful Curiosity Does she launch out into the Sea of vast Eternity V. So when the Spatious Globe was delug'd o're And
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
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
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
do not thou My Soul fixt here remain All Streams of Beauty here below Do from that immense Ocean flow And thither they should lead again Trace then these Streams till thou shall be At length o'rewhelm'd in Beauty's boundless Sea. Love. I. IMperial Passion Sacred fire When we of meaner Subjects sing Thou tune'st our Harps thou dost our Souls inspire 'T is Love directs the Quill 't is Love strikes every string But where 's another Deity T' inspire the man that sings of thee II. W' are by mistaken Chymists told That the most active part of all The various Compound cast in nature's mould Is that which they Mercurial spirit call But sure 't is Love they should have said Without this even their Spirit is Dead III. Love 's the great Spring of Nature's wheel Love does the Masse pervade and move What ' scapes the Sun's does thy warm influence feel The Universe is kept in tune by Love. Thou Nature giv'st her Sympathy The Center has its Charm from thee IV. Love did great Nothing 's barren womb Impregnate with his genial fire From this first Parent did all creatures come Th' Almighty will'd and made all by Desire Nay more among the Sacred Three The third subsistence is from thee V. The Happiest Order of the Blest Are those whose Tide of Love's most high The bright Seraphic Host who 're more possest Of good because more like the Deity T' him they advance as they improve Their noble heat for God is love VI. Shall then a Passion so Divine Stoop down and Mortal Beautys know Nature's great Statute Law did ne're design That Heavenly fire should kindle here below Let it ascend and dwell above The proper Element of Love. The Consummation A Pindarique Ode I. THe rise of Monarchys and their long weighty fall My Muse outsoars she proudly leaves behind The Pomps of Courts she leaves our little All To be the humble Song of a less reaching Mind In vain I curb her tow'ring flight All I can here present's too small She presses on and now has lost their sight She flies and hastens to relate The last and dreadful Scene of Fate Nature's great solemn Funeral I see the mighty Angel stand Cloath'd with a Cloud and Rain-bow round his head His right foot on the Sea his other on the Land He lifted up his dreadful arm and thus he said By the mysterious great Three-one Whose Power we fear and Truth adore I swear the Fatal Thred is spun Nature shall breath her last and Time shall be no more The Ancient Stager of the Day Has run his minutes out and number'd all his way The parting Isthmus is thrown down And all shall now be overflown Time shall no more her under-current know But one with great Eternity shall grow Their streams shall mix and in one Circling chanel flow II. He spake Fate writ the Sentence with her Iron pen And mighty Thunderings said Amen What dreadful sound 's this strikes my ear 'T is sure th' Arch-angel's trump I hear Nature's great Passing-bell the only Call Of God's that will be heard by all The Universe takes the alarm the Sea Trembles at the great Angel's sound And roars almost as loud as he Seeks a new channel and would fain run under-ground The Earth it self does no less quake And all throughout down to the Center shake The Graves unclose and the deep sleepers there awake The Sun 's arrested in his way He dares not forward go But wondring stands at the great hurry here below The Stars forget their laws and like loose Planets stray See how the Elements resign Their numerous charge the scatter'd Atoms home repair Some from the Earth some from the Sea some from the Air They know the great alarm And in confus'd mixt numbers swarm Till rang'd and sever'd by the Chymistry divine The Father of Mankind's amaz'd to see The Globe too narrow for his Progeny But 't is the closing of the Age And all the Actors now at once must grace the Stage III. Now Muse exalt thy wing be bold and dare Fate does a wondrous Scene prepare The Central fire which hitherto did burn Dull like a Lamp in a moist clammy Urn Fann'd by the breath divine begins to glow The Fiends are all amaz'd below But that will no confinement know Breaks through its Sacred Fence and plays more free Than thou with all thy vast Pindarique Liberty Nature does sick of a strong Fever lye The fire the subterraneous Vaults does spoil The Mountains sweat the Sea does boil The Sea her mighty Pulse beats high The waves of fire more proudly rowl The Fiends in their deep Caverns howl And with the frightful Trumpet mix their hideous cry Now is the Tragic Scene begun The Fire in triumph marches on The Earth's girt round with flames and seems another Sun. IV. But whither does this lawless Judgment roam Must all promiscuously expire A Sacrifice in Sodom's fire Read thy Commission Fate sure all are not thy due No thou must save the vertuous Few But where 's the Angel guardian to avert the doom Lo with a mighty Host he 's come I see the parted Clouds give way I see the Banner of the Cross display Death's Conquerour in pomp appears In his right hand a Palm he bears And in his looks Redemption wears Th' illustrious glory of this Scene Does the despairing Saints inspire With Joy with Rapture and desire Kindles the higher life that dormant lay within Th' awaken'd vertue does its strength display Melts and refines their drosâ—y Clay New-cast into a pure Aethereal frame They fly and mount aloft in vehicles of flame Slack here my Muse thy roving wing And now the world 's untuned let down thy high-set string Freedom I. I Do not ask thee Fate to give This little span a long reprieve Thy pleasures here are all so poor and vain I care not hence how soon I 'm gone Date as thou wilt my time I shan't complain May I but still live free and call it all my own II. Let my sand slide away apace I care not so I hold the glass Let me my Time my Books my Self enjoy Give me from cares a sure retreat Let no impertinence my hours employ That 's in one word kind Heaven â—et me ne're be great III. In vain from chains and fetters free The great man boasts of Liberty He 's pinnion'd up by formal rules of state Can ne're from noise and dust retire He 's haunted still by Crouds that round him wait His lot's to be in Pain as that of Fools t' admire IV. Mean while the Swain has calm repose Freely he comes and freely goes Thus the bright Stars whose station is more high Are fix'd and by strict measures move While lower Planets wanton in the sky Are bound to no set laws but humoursomly rove To his Muse I. COme Muse let 's cast up our Accounts and see How much you are in Debt to me You 've reign'd thus long the Mistress of