where 's the quickening coelestial fire I know the Eye of Heav'n is on my Heart God looks my Soul should bear the chiefest part It 's winged Faith and flaming Love within That must the pleasant Melody begin The holy Spirit must tune and touch each string Else smoothest Verse will be a harsh dull thing Display thy Love shoot down thy vital Raies Teach this cold heart the works of Love Praise O then what Life and Joy these Psalms will bring When it 's thy Spirit and my Soul that sing And though low streins with stops are here my best Yet Perfect Love and Praise shall be my REST. 6. The Threefold Nativity Prima dies hominem peperit sanctumque secunda Natalis pariet Mors tertia glorificatum MY first Birth-day brought forth a Man in sin But one that could not work nor go nor speak My second did a Life of Grace begin But such alas as yet 's diseas'd and weak The third from fleshly bonds will me release And bring me to the world of glorious Light Where all my sins and vexing griefs shall cease And Faith shall end in perfect Love and Sight This Death begins but 't is the Resurrection That fully shall obliterate sins story And state both Soul and Body in perfection Where Grace and Nature shall be crown'd with Glory As Nature taught me first complaining cryes Before it did acquaint me with Delight So Grace with grief first fill'd my Heart and Eyes Before it shewed me the joyful sight Why should not Death then be a straiter Door Than either that of Nature or of Grace Which brings us unto the Eternal Store Of Joy and Glory in God's shining face 7. Self-Denial A Dialogue between the Flesh the Spirit Flesh WHat become Nothing ne're perswade me to it God made me Something and I 'le not undo it Spirit Thy Something is not thine but his that gave it Resign it to him if thou mean to save it Flesh God gave me Life and shall I choose to die Before my time or pine in miserie Spirit God is thy Life If then thou fearest death Let him be all thy soul thy pulse and breath Flesh What! must I hate my self when as my brot her Must love me and I may not hate another Spirit Loath what is loathsom Love God in the rest He truly love's himself that love 's God best Flesh Doth God our ease and pleasure to us grudge Or doth Religion make a man a drudge Spirit That is thy Poyson which thou callest Pleasure And that thy drudgery which thou count'st thy treasure Flesh Who can endure to be thus mewed up And under Laws for every bit and cup Spirit God's Cage is better than the Wilderness When Winter comes Liberty brings distress Flesh Pleasure 's mans Happiness The Will 's not free To choose our misery This cannot be Spirit God is mans End with him are highest joyes Sensual pleasures are but dreams and toyes Should sin seem sweet Is Satan turn'd thy friend Will not thy sweet prove bitter in the end Hast thou found sweeter pleasures than Gods Love Is a fools laughter like the Joyes above Beauty surpasseth all deceitful paints What 's empty mirth to the delights of Saints God would not have thee have less joy but more And therefore shew's thee the eternal store Flesh Who can love baseness poverty and want And under pining sickness be content Spirit He that hath laid his treasure up above And plac't his portion only in Gods love That waits for Glory when his life is done This man will be content with God alone Flesh What good will sorrow do us Is not mirth Fitter to warm a cold heart here on earth Troubles will come whether we will or no I 'le never banish pleasure and choose we Spirit Then choose not sin touch not forbidden things Taste not the sweet that endless sorrow brings If thou love pleasure take in God thy fill Look not for lasting joyes in doing ill Flesh Affliction 's bitter life will soon be done Pleasure shall be my part ere all be gone Spirit Prosperity is barren all men say The soil is best where there 's the deepest way Life is for work and not to spend in play Now sow thy seed labour while it is day The Huntsman seeks his game in barren plains Dirty land answers best the Plowmans pains Passengers care not so the way be fair Husbandmen would have the best ground and air First think what 's safe and fruitful There 's no pleasure Like the beholding of thy chiefest Treasure Flesh Nature made me a Man and gave me sense Changing of Nature is a vain pretence It taught me to love women honour ease And every thing that doth my senses please Spirit Nature hath made thee Rational and Reason Must rule the sense in ends degrees and season Reason's the Rider Sense is but the Horse Which then is fittest to direct thy course Give up the reins and thou becom'st a beast Thy fall at death will sadly end thy feast Flesh Religion is a dull and heavy thing Whereas a merry Cup will make me sing Love's entertainments warm both heart and brain And wind my fancy to the highest strain Spirit Cupid hath stuck a Feather in thy Cap And lull'd thee dead asleep on Venu's lap Thy brains are tipled with some wantons eyes Thy Reason is become Lust's sacrifice Playing a game at Folly thou hast lost Thy wit and soul and winnest to thy cost Thy Soul now in a filthy channel lies While fancy seems to soar above the Skies Beauty will soon be stinking loathsom Earth Sickness and Death marr all the wanton 's mirth It is not all the pleasure thou canst find Will countervail the sting that 's left behind Blind brutish Souls that cannot love their God! And yet can dote on a defiled clod Why should I think of what will be to morrow An ounce of mirth is worth a pound of sorrow Spirit But where 's that mirth when sorrows overtake thee Will it then hold when Life and God forsake thee Forgetting Death or Hell will not prevent it Now lose thy day thou 'lt then too late repent it Flesh Must I be pain'd and wronged and not feel As if my heart were made of flint or steel Spirit Dost thou delight to feel thy hurt and smart Would not an Antidote preserve thy heart Impatience is but self-tormenting folly Patience is cordial easie sweet and holy Is not that better which turns grief to peace Than that which doth thy misery encrease Flesh When sport and wine and beauty do invite Who is it whom such baits will not incite Spirit He that perceives the hook and sees the end Whither it is that fleshly Pleasures tend He that by faith hath seen both Heav'n and Hell And what sin costeth at the last can tell He that hath try'd and tasted better things And felt that love from which all pleasure springs They that still watch and for Christs coming wait
save the goods some to purloin The well-built Piles curious Rooms must down To buy the Safety of the fearful Town A Neighbour's house is used like a Foe 's Because the Fire the Hook no diff'rence knows Fear pulleth down the next to save the most And ruines more than needs lest all be lost Smoak and confused crouds do blind men's eyes All are amaz'd with hideous flames and cryes So England too combustible before Seeing so great a flame so near her door Was frighted into such Convulsion Fits As first did break her Peace and next her Wits Dangers breed fears and fears more dangers bring The Bees to save their Honey use their Sting Rowz'd in an angry Swarm they seek their Foe The next they meet must feel the smarting blow Caetera desunt praesunt adsunt I purposed to have recited the most notable mercies of my Life in continuing this Hymn of Thanksgiving to my gracious God but the quality of the Subject and the Ages Impatience stopt me here and I could go no further and my painful and spiritless Age is now unfit for Poetry And the matter is so large as would have made the Volume big 3. The Resolution PSAL. 119. 96. Written when I was Silenced and cast out c. LORD I have cast up the Account What it will cost to come to thee I find to what it will amount A serious Christian to be When Flesh was weighing thou put'st in Thy Love and the Eternal Crown Against a Feather and a Sin And yet it thought these weigh'd thee down Fool as I was I took its word And chose what Flesh did recommend How could I more have wrong'd my Lord Or more his Love and Name offend It had been wiser to have thought The Earth is weigh'd down by a Fly Than to prefer a thing of nought Before the Love of the Most High I see now what false Scales can do In a deceitful partial hand I will no more believe a Foe But to the holy Covenant stand 1. Will Friends turn Foes That cannot be They were my greatest Foes before That would have kept my Soul from thee Their Malice now can do no more I 'll bid these cruel Friends farewel Even Satan would be such a Friend He 'd please and flatter me to Hell And thither doth their friendship tend He wants not Friends that hath thy Love And may converse and walk with thee And with thy Saints here and above With whom for ever I must be In the Communion of Saints Is Wisdom Safety and Delight And when my heart declines and faints It 's raised by their Heat and Light Thy Spirit in them speaks and prayes Their speech is holy clean and quick Dead hearted fools talk but of toyes Their speech and mirth even makes me sick 2. Must Lies and slanders me defame That Innocence may not be known Must proud men's malice blot my Name With Epithets that are their own Thou justifi'st when Men accuse Thou 'lt answer all the spite of tongues And do them right whom men abuse And plenteously repair their wrongs It 's no great matter what Men deem Whether they count me good or bad In their applause and best esteem There 's no contentment to be had I stand not to the Bar of Man It 's thy displeasure makes me sad My thoughts and actions thou wilt scan If thou approve me I am glad 3. Must I before the Ruling Power Be call'd with shame to plead my Cause And judged as an evil doer And as a breaker of their Laws So was the Lord of Life accus'd Slander'd and scorn'd with cruel spight And as a Malefactor us'd And one that claimed Caesar's right False witness cloudeth Innocence Truth seemeth conquer'd by a Lie Patience for bears a just defence And Life it self is judg'd to die Methinks I see thee cloath'd with scorn And spit upon and buffeted And crowned with the piercing Thorn Away to Execution led It most amazeth me to think Thou barest the repute of Sin The bitter Cup which thou didst drink Had nothing bitterer therein The Sun did well to hide his face When Sin did Righteousness eclipse And the most Just is with disgrace A Sinner judg'd by sinners lips Thy steps Lord in this dirt I see And lost my Soul from God should stray I 'll bear my Cross and follow thee Let others chuse the fairer way My face is meeter for the Spit I am more suitable to shame And to the taunts of scornful wit It 's no great matter for my Name 4. Must I be driven from my Books From House and Goods and dearest Friends One of thy sweet and gracious looks For more than this will make amends The World 's thy Book There I can read Thy Power Wisdom and thy Love And thence ascend by Faith and feed Upon the better things above I 'll read thy works of Providence Thy Spirit Conscience and thy Rod Can teach without book all the sense To know the World my Self and God Few Books may serve when Thou wilt teach Many have stoln my precious time I 'll leave my Books to hear thee Preach church-Church-work is best when thou dost chime As for my House it was my Tent While there I waited on thy Flock That work is done that time is spent There neither was my Home nor Stock Would I in all my Journey have Still the same Inn and Furniture Or ease and pleasant dwellings crave Forgetting what thy Saints endure My Lord hath taught me how to want A place wherein to put my head While he is mine I 'll be content To beg or lack my daily bread Heav'n is my roof Earth is my floor Thy Love can keep me dry and warm Christ and thy Bounty are my store Thy Angels guard me from all harm As for my Friends they are not lost The several Vessels of thy Fleet Though parted now by Tempests tost Shall safely in the Haven meet Still we are centred all in thee Members though distant of one Head In the same Family we be By the same Faith and Spirit led Before thy Throne we daily meet As Joynt-Petitioners to thee In spirit we each other greet And shall again each other see The Heavenly Hosts world without end Shall be my company above And thou my Best and Surest Friend Who shall divide me from thy Love 5. Must I forsake the Soil and Air Where first I drew my vital breath That way may be as near and fair Thence I may come to thee by death All Countries are my Father's Lands Thy Sun thy Love doth shine on all We may in all lift up pure hands And with acceptance on thee call Those banish'd are that go from thee Strange to thy Service Love and Grace And lost in sin do never see Thy Kingdom and thy pleased face May but my Soul dwell near my God And walk with him in Faith and Love No matter where be my abode Till to his Glory I remove 6. What if in
thy Mind The Flesh will so rebel and put thee to it That when thou wouldst do good thou canst not do it There 's in one breast a twofold Will and Heart Actingreach of them a contrary part There is a Will to Good and Will to evil One's Rul'd by God the other by the Devil A Will to read and pray and meditate A Will that doth all this oppose and hate Do not now stand and whine nor yield nor flie But use thy weapons thou must fight or die Now live by Faith Be glad thou hast a Christ Whose Spirit fortifies thee to resist Making the greatest things thy chiefest scope Keeping alive a secret spark of Hope Which will not only strive but overcome And through all Foes will safely bring thee home Sinner But how can I find favour in thy sight That have sinn'd wilfully even in the Light Jesus Though they that wholly to the last reject My Sacrifice no other can expect All kind of sin is pardon'd by my Merit Save the grand blasphemy against the Spirit Sinner Alas this is the thing that I fear most Lest I have thus blasphem'd the Holy Ghost Jesus No man that fears or thinks he hath this sin Hath ever truly guilty of it been For they deny me all to be the Lord Think it no sin to violate my Word They set themselves against me with despight And justifie the sin which they commit Sinner But wilt thou take this Lord for true Consent From a hard heart that can no more relent From one that loveth thee no more than I That is constrained by Necessity And while he thus subscribeth to thy Will Knowingly crosseth it and sinneth still Jesus If thou Consent it 's Good that doth thee move And to Consent to Good is truly Love Believe if thou would'st Love And in my face God's Love and Grace If His abounding Love thou didst but know Thy heart with Love to him would everflow Love kindleth Love but Faith must hold the Glass This sight would win thy heart before thou pass He that will Love God must not think him Evil Nor paint him in his fancy like the Devil Satan will make thee fly from God with hate If he can make thee throughly desperate Think'st thou to find thy Love before by Faith Thou 'lt come to Me and hear what Mercy saith Thou may'st as wisely search for marks to prove Thou lovest God before thou wilt him love Believe Consent Give up Thy Self to Me And I will give my Self and Spirit to thee I will inable thee to do the rest And take the stony heart out of thy breast I 'le put God's Fear and Love into thy heart That thou may'st never more from him depart I 'le quench the flames of thy corrupt desire And save thee from God's wrath and from Hell fire Sinner And wilt thou pardon all the crimson sin Of which my wilful heart hath guilty been Jesus Have I not told thee I will pardon all Hast thou sinn'd more than raging bloody Soul Or than Manasseh 's long and matchless flood Of Witchcraft Rage Idolatry and Blood That yet was pardon'd when he did return And in his Prison-Irons pray and mourn Trust Me Subscribe My Covenant and be Mine And I and All My Benefits are Thine Sinner O wondrous Love where this is kindly felt The heart must needs with Love Sorrow melt Wilt thou accept so vile a wretch as I I 'le cast my self upon thee live or die My Soul and Body here to Thee I tender All that I called Mine I Here Surrender To this Consent here I subscribe my Hand Whatever Changes come to this I stand Not by my strength I trust on Thee My Lord That for performance thou wilt Grace afford January 26. 1660 1. 13. Upon the sight of Mr. VINES His Posthumous TREATISE OF THE SACRAMENT October 18. 1656. Who Dyed a little before WHile thou grew'st here thy fruit made glad The hearts that sin and death made sad Lest we should surfeit of thy fruit Thy Life retired to the Root Desiring with us first to keep A Passover before thy sleep Weary of Earth thou took'st thine Ease Passing into the Land of Peace The threatned Evil we fore-see But hope to hide our selves with Thee Though thou art gone while we must fight We 'l call it Victory not Flight When God hath taken up this VINE We thought no more to taste its Wine Till in the Land of Salem's King We drink it new even from the Spring But unexpectedly we find Some Clusters which are left behind This Mantle from thy Chariot fell We know it by the pleasant smell Who knows but from this little seed Some more such fruitful Vines may breed The Tree of Death bears precious Fruit Though in the Earth it have no Root Dear Brother thou art gone before And I a wretch wait at the door Sin doth not only keep me thence But makes me loth to go from hence When Christ hath heal'd me of this sin And made me fit he 'l let me in Till then may I but in a Glass See what you see with open face Sure it will raise my heavy Soul And these distrustful fears controul And make me willing to be gone As knowing Whither and to Whom If Time be Nothing as some say You that were with us yesterday Are with us still or we with you Which is the better of the two The Soul imbodied in those lines Doth make us say that This is VINES And if our hearts with you could be Our Lord would say that there are we But as acccording to desert The Heavens have got thy better part And left us but some of the Wine Whil'st they have taken up the Vine So we look up and wait and pray And yet still feel we live in Clay Here we are keeping sin's account While some small sparks do upward mount Crying How long Holy and True Till we are taken up to you Thus also we must follow LOVE To find our HEAD and LIFE above He that is made by the New-Birth A BURGESS of the Church on Earth And then by Faith can rise so high In Divine LOVE to Live and Die Shall be translated to your soil Remov'd from sin and fear and toil And from this House of Worms and Moles Unto that Element of Souls Where every Branch becomes a VINE And where these Clods like Stars will shine God is not there known by the Book You need not there the Pruning Hook There you have Wine without the Press And God his Praise without Distress There we shall find our Eyes and Sight When we come to our Head and Light The Kernel is where you now dwell And we here strive about the Shell You have the Reconciling Light Who are past Faith and live by Sight No wonder then if you are One When Peace from Earth is almost gone We croud about a little Spark Learnedly striving in the Dark Never so bold as when most Blind