THE Christian Pattern PARAPHRAS'D OR The BOOK of The Imitation of CHRIST Commonly ascrib'd to THOMAS à KEMPIS Made English by LUKE MILBOURN A Presbyter of the Church of England A Verse may find him who a Sermon flies And turn Delight into a Sacrifice Herb. Perhirrant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Callim Hymno in Apoll. LONDON Printed for Roger Clavel at the Peacock against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1696. TO THE PRINCESS Madam WHEN Religion appears in a declining State only the greatest Hands can revive the expiring Virgin make soft Blushes rush out again into her faded Checks and stubborn and unnurtur'd Souls submit to the sacred Violence of her prevailing Beauties Almighty God is the Great Physician who alone can make this happy Change in Her who as descended from Himself depends upon his Smiles and lives and conquers only to and for Him but He makes Princes Nursing Fathers and Princesses Nursing Mothers to that heavenly Charmer He made a Royal Vnbeliever the Patroness of his Friend the Founder of Judaism expos'd to the uncertain Fluxes of the Nile and has appointed Your Royal Highness the greatest Princess of the Christian Name the blest Protectress of that Divine Religion profestin that Church which he has here founded in his own most precious Blood I have endeavour'd to reduce a wandring Hagar perverted Poetry to the Service of her sacred Mistress I have taught her to sing the Songs of Sion in a degenerate Age I have filled her Mouth with holy Prayers humble Praises and devout Ejaculations have taught her to look up again to that Heaven from whence she came at first and that she may hereafter take the Nobler Flights I lay her an humble Petitioner at the Feet of Your Royal Highness However I have manag'd the Cause I 'm sure I have taken Sanctuary under the best Protection And if THE CHRISTIAN PATTERN hugg'd so oft in pious Bosoms when in her rustick Habit can now in a more refin'd State and cheereful Garb give any Delight to Your Royal Highness's retir'd Hours or under the Shadow of so August a Name make Religion and Piety more valued among reputed Christians I shall think my self invidiously happy and all those Minutes well employ'd which gave mean Opportunity to assume the Title God's and Your Royal Highness's Most Humble Most Faithfull and Devoted Servant LUKE MILBOURNE THE PREFACE POETRY in elder days was the Servant of Religion by that our Ancestors transmitted Divine Truths to their Posterity and Prophets and Priests convey'd the Precepts of Morality and the Mysteries of Faith down to their Disciples and perhaps Holy Scripture it self affords us nothing more Antient than the Israelites Song after the drowning of Pharaoh and his Egyptian Army in the Red Sea and the History of Job which with the Songs of Moses Deborah Habakkuk and the Canticles are the most exalted Pieces of Poesy in the World But as Religion her self the greatest Beauty of the rational Soul has been abus'd to cover the Extravagances of the worst of Villains so Poetry the Gift of Heaven has by the Activity of Hell and wicked Men been perverted to affront its Giver to explode Religion to vitiate Manners and to countenance and encourage whatsoever might provoke God and scandalize considering Men. Soft Words harmonious Numbers lofty Fancy daring Figures and noble Expressions have been the Leaf-Gold to disguise infectious Pills Our most celebrated Poets of late have led the Way to Vice and the rest of the crawling Vermine have sometimes croak'd even in the Royal Chambers Wit has been measur'd by its Lewdness and he has been esteem'd the best Poet who has made the most numerous Proselytes to the Devil This Reflection made some of my Reverend Brethren invite me to assert the Antient Rights of Poetry They thought it worthy the Study of a Divine to make her talk in her Original Language promote the Honour of God and the Interests of Religion convince the World that heavenly things were capable of all the Embellishments with which a Poetical Genius could accoutre them and that without the ridiculous Garniture of a Fantastick Beau Religion might appear in publick with the charming Modesty of a Virgin the Majesty of a Queen the Purity of an Angel and the Awfulness of a God When I was perswaded to try my Talent that way the Bookseller whose Interest was like to be concern'd pitch'd upon the CHRISTIAN PATTERN as meriting a better Dress than at present it appear'd in ◠The Original is extreamly plain and very pious much bought up by well-inclin'd Christians and very likely to advance Devotion Verse may render it yet more pleasant to the Reader more impressive on the Memory the very mode of Expression may add something to the Excellency of the Matter and both together raise the Soul to a nobler pitch in quest of Divine Vertues and never-ending Felicity The present Book then is the Product of some unwish'd for leisure Hours Who was the first Author of it is as impertinent a Disquisition as that after the true Author of the Epistles ascrib'd to Phalaris or the Writer of Aesop 's Fables Yet Monsieur Launoy has discharg'd Thomas â Kempis and ascribes it to John de Canabaco or Gersen or Gessen Abbot as I think of Vercelles and contemporary with St. Francis The Book has a sufficient Tincture of the Age it was written in a sour kind of Leaven run through it which I have endeavour'd so far to purge out that it might be at once a pleasant and wholesome Reefction for a Pious Contemplative Christian The Work is a Paraphrase sometimes close to the Text sometimes more Libertine a◠the matter would allow Sometimes I have only kept my Author in view at a distance making his Religious my Christian Priest expunging his whole 17th Chap. of Book I. for I perswade my self that nothing but Persecution should drive Christians into a continued Solitude and that Monasteries and Convents those Academies of Superstition and refin'd Lewdness were none of the Institutions of the Gosple In the 4th Book treating wholly of the Eucharist I have trodden with all the tenderness I could between the Extreams of Popish Superstition and Phanatic Indecency and Slovenliness I love no empty Signs nor am I ambitious to devour my Maker A Socinian would scarce tempt me to esteem the Lord's Supper an Institution of no weight an unholy things nor could all the Sophistry of a Hind let loose and giving goodly Words perswade me to adore the Consecrated Elements as if they were transubstantiated into God The Matter of the Book is serious and grave but full of Breaks and Repetitions which were not always to be avoided and made it the harder to find out Lemma 's to every Chapter which might be pertinent the Stile is very mean and therefore less capable of Ornament To dress our Saviour's Sermon on the Mount with Virgil's Flights or Ovid's Fancy would be not to beautify but profane it Sacred Truth may evaporate
Truth improve It 's Truth I would in others find O mayn't I be my Self to Lies inclin'd From Tatling and Credulity And Words which out unguarded fly He 'll keep Himself who 'd Peace pursue And He 'll reveal Himself to few To Thee great Lord of Hearts he flies No windy Words his Soul surprize But in his Thoughts and all his Deeds He by thy sacred Will proceeds That I may keep thy Grace Divine I shan't for fond Applause design Nor vulgar Air but carefully My Soul to Life reform'd and purer Zeal apply Man bloated up with empty Praise May like a slimy Meteor blaze But soon as shooting Stars appear And fall from his exalted Sphere But who in private spends his Days Not gaining but deserving Praise He thro' his Christian Course walks all in peaceful Ways XLVI Esteeming the Reproaches of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt Christ ON Me My Son fix all thy Pains and Care For empty Words are only empty Air. If Conscience sting to mend thy Life prepare If not think what thou for thy God could'st bear Frighted with Words canst thou contend with Blows Thy selfish Thoughts thy best Resolves oppose Scar'd with Reproach Fig-leaves thy Guilt would use And with a trifling Plea thy Coward Heart excuse Look thro' thy Bosom then O search it well Close there the World and vain Affections dwell Loth to be humbled or to blush for Sin Thou show'st that World still lives and reigns within Hear Me thou 'lt all inferiour Scandal slight Tho Malice should her utmost Force excite How should they hurt thee Son despise them all They from thy Head can't make one single Hair to fall God's Fear and Wisdom scorns the World's Disgrace And sober Faith will common Fears efface I the great Judg Mens common Practice know Who bears the Injury who gives the Blow I all the Thoughts of gloomy Hearts reveal Yet from themselves the secret Test conceal While to my Sentence Guilt and Innocence appeal Mens Judgments fail but mine unchang'd remain Obscure to Fools to Men of Wisdom plain To Mine then not thy Own Decisions stand The Just unmov'd may Fate 's last Force command Unvex'd with Malice and unshock'd with Lies Not Pride but Reason is his Exercise He knows I search the Heart and try the Reins No false Appearance e're my Doom restrains What Fools as Charity and Vertue prize Casts but an ugly Shade in my severer Eyes Bel. Just Mighty Judg Dear patient Lord To me thy Faith and Strength afford Thou knowst our frail Corruptions all How short my Sense and Wisdom fall Thou knowst what 's to my Self unknown I then should thy Chastisements own Mercy to Me O Mercy show And Pardon and thy Grace bestow Thy Mercy 's more indulgent far Than all our vain Excuses are Tho not self-conscious I should be Unfit to plead my Cause with Thee Without that Mercy I and All Beneath the weighty Strokes of dismal Vengeance fall XLVII For when He is tried He shall receive the Crown of Life Christ LET not my Son those Sufferings born for Me Those Sorrows thy tyrannic Conquerors be But let my Promise strengthen comfort Thee I can beyond the largest Thoughts repay Sorrows continue but for one short Day Wait humbly and they fly on Wings away The Time shall come when all that Pain and Noise Shall cease which now thy inward Peace destroys That 's short which only Time 's short Bounds employs Up rise to work with earnest Toils regard My Vineyard then I 'll be thy great Reward Write Read Sigh Sing Pray Cease thy Passions guard Such Exercise with Manly Courage bear That glorious Crown which thou at last shalt wear More Dangers may and sharper Toils endear I see I see the blest approaching Day No Night shall its Eternal Beams allay But thee to Rest and endless Peace convey who 'll from this Load of Death deliver Me How long shall I a mournful Pilgrim be Such Cries shall never more be heard from thee Death then shall yield and Life for ever last Thy cheerful Days no Sorrow's Wormwood taste With sweet Society and Splendor grac'd O couldst Thou see the Saints immortal Crown The Saints whom sensless Worlds of old bore down Their present Honours and their vast Renown thou 'dst soon be humble scorn the Joys beneath For God's dear sake embrace approaching Death And tho by Men despis'd Celestial Honours breathe Knew'st Thou but This could this thy Heart possess thou 'dst ne'r complain but think thy Sufferings less Compar'd with thy superiour Happiness Heav'n gain'd or lost is of a vast Concern Look up then thro' the Clouds thy Lot discern Mine and my Saints advancing Glories learn We who endur'd so many Wounds of old Peace now and Joys in full Possession hold In my Eternal Father's Royal Lists enroll'd XLVIII For the Things which are seen are Temporal and the Things which are not seen are Eternal Believer O Salem with Immortal Glories light O Day for ever ever bright Free from Clouds and free from Night Where Truth 's the Sun and sheds his gladsom Rays Where he diffuses cheerful Days And the same unchanging stays Sink wretched World O Day Eternal shine That Saints may bask in Beams Divine And may their blest Lot be Mine Those Days the Saints at Rest with gladness know We find these bitter here below Full of Mischief full of Wo. We 'r here defil'd with Sins with Lusts ensnar'd With Bugbear-Dreams and Terrors har'd And with endless Dangers scar'd Wild with too curious Thoughts and Fancies vain Opprest with Errors weighty Chain Rack'd with Wants and torn with Pain Or broke with soft delights all the Tempter's train When shall these Ills be past my Soul be free From Sins extream Servility So to think Dear Lord on Thee When shall I bathe in Joys immortal Springs And free from wretched Worldly Things Mount on Freedom's airy Wings When shall my Peace be solid full secure And firm on every side endure And my Saviour's Smiles procure When Lord shall I thy Kingdom 's Glories fee And make Thee all in all to Me And for ever reign with Thee Now I a poor a banish'd Wretch appear And now a thousand Sorrows bear While by Foes surrounded here Ah to an Exile Lord some Comfort give From Woes ray wretched Heart retrieve For in Thee my Wishes live Earth's Comforts are uneasy Weights to Me I long Dear Lord I pant for Thee Ah how ineffectually Dull Earth wild Passions check my Towring Soul When I 'd the lower World controul Lust alas subdues Me whole Thus Civil Wars distract my tortur'd Breast My Mind by Rebel Lusts opprest Loses all its private Rest How great 's my Torment while my Mind aspires To Heav'n but Carnal base Desires Quench the sacred rising Fires O don't in Wrath thy wretched Servant view But with thy pointed Shafts pursue And my struggling Lusts subdue Give Me but Wisdom I 'll the World deny And those Ideas vain
c. and that the Holy Ghost is in and by Himself Infinite Eternal Incomprehensible c. they will agree in that Point with the Church of England and the Argument deducible from those Concessions to prove that the Father is God the Son God and the Holy Ghost God and yet that there is and can be but one God will amount to a Demonstration They tell us indeed that their Writings look like fair well-furnish'd Houses where every thing is plain and regular but they may remember the famous Manchegan Hero who was as eminent for Chivalry as they are for Divinity took the beggarly Vent for a stately Castle bare Walls and Sluttishness for noble Furniture and a pair of Stroling Drabs for beautiful Damsels and Illustrious Princesses Again they find nothing but dark and obscure in the clearest Vindications of Eternal Truth but it 's because they are always blind at Home and their Eyes are in the ends of the Earth Indeed if Religion wanted Buffoons or Merry Andrews the Gentlemen might be of some use to Her For for a rude or Impertinent Jest a modish Droll a blasphemous Flirt or a long Declamation in praise of their own Elixirs Orvietans or Pouders of Pimperlimpimp they 'd outdo most of our riding Quacks or German Jugglers but for sound Reason Chrysippus his Dog outveyed'um and Balaam 's Ass might much better than They have superseded the necessity of Divine Revelation Answers to them are to the less purpose because they murder us so with their repeated Crambe's their wretched Quelque Chose shall be set again a hundred times upon the same Table only made a little poinant with the Sauce of a new Scoff or the Haut-goût of a Jeer and Nothing not the Eternal Deity himself can escape the ridicule when these Saints of a new Stamp take Pen in hand to assert the Reasonableness of Christianity to examine Scripture accurately to explode Mystery and to blaspheme the Holy and Undivided Trinity It 's hard to think they can have any Reverence for true Religion who write only for the Diversion of those who have none And we know what great Designs their late celebrated Champion had Scripture appear'd to him a meer Heap of Contradictions and to be reveng'd on those who would not swallow Christianity without Mysteries he piously resolv'd to set up Mahumetism in opposition to it and doubtless he knew very well that neither Scripture nor the Churches antient Confessions of Faith contain'd half so many Arguments for the Unitarian Divinity as the Alcoran Mysteries in Religion are very offensive to some weak Eyes Men of no Religion may perhaps be thought fittest to write the History of it they must needs be impartial because they have no Interest in the Subject they treat of but for Men of loose Lives to decry what they call Priest-craft for Men of very ordinary Intellectuals to explode Mysteries and for those of no Principles to take upon 'um to refine and vindicate Christianity is a Demonstration that Christianity is the best Religion Mysteries truly useful in it and the Christian Priesthood the noblest tho the most invidious Employment in the World Priest-craft is grown a Cant-word us'd by thoughtless Animals who seldom know their own meaning in 't Something they 'r angry at They cant sleep quietly in their Vices they can't live peaceably like Heathens in a Christian Country they can't devour the Patrimony of the Church without opposition nor set up Atheism without the danger of a Reprimand from some ill-bred Blackcoat In short Religion 's against them and therefore they are resolv'd to be against it This should render it the more valuable to sober Men it should make them study by Practical Holiness as well as weighty Arguments to crush the Heads of Atheism and Heresy to embrace kindly whatever promotes that Holiness and even to hug THE CHRISTIAN PATTERN how meanly soever Paraphras'd while it strives in the softest way to impress the sacred Image of our blessed Master on the Hearts of the greatest Priests or Bishops or of the humblest private Christians ERRATA PAg. 12. l. 14. r. fluttering p. 13. l. 6. r. nightly p. 47. l. 17. for this r. they p. 60. l. 23. r. presumptous p. 69. l. 1. r. disease p. 57. l. 18. r. shalt p. 69. l. 8. r. shalt p. 83. l. 17. r. by thy p. 86. after l. 11. a blank line is wanting p. 89. l. 1. after yet put p. 110. l. 8. r. Secrets p. 120. l. 15. r. strange for p. 155. l. 3. r. Live p. 186. l. 23. for while r. which p. 187. l. 18. after live make p. 206. l. 20. after can I make p. 223. l. 12. after ineffectually put p. 239. l. 17. r. God p. 245. l. 22. r. my Soul p. 260. l. 11. after eat put The Christian Pattern PARAPHRAS'D The First Book I. Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity WHOer'e to follow me his Steps applies Or'e his blest Head no gloomy Clouds shall rise But Life's pure Light shall fill his Heart and sparkle in his Eyes Thus spoke our Holy Jesus and can we Er'e dream of Light and Immortality That Truth 's pure Beams should our dark Fancies clear Unless like his our Lives reform'd appear O let our Thoughts then on his Actions dwell Whose Doctrines Man's divinest Rules excel If his enlightning Spirit guide the Mind 'T will treasur'd there the secret Manna find Truth sweet and tasteful as that Angels Food Not loath'd but always welcom'd by the Good If he withdraw tho with the Gospel blest Our Souls are still with lazy Dreams opprest But when enflam'd by him we try to live By those great Rules his heavenly Actions give All clear and plain his sacred Words appear And to the Heart reveal'd are grateful to the Ear. What tho I could with strange Acuteness pry Into the still Mysterious Trinity Only more Woes would me at last surprize Should my proud Soul from thence that dreadful God despise Not lofty Thoughts nor Words which smoothly roll But Purity to God endears the Soul Let others curious Definitions spin O let me feel true Grief for Guilt within And Floods of unseen Tears purge out my Stains of Sin What tho thy apprehensive Mind compriz'd What er'e those old Philosophers devis'd What tho thy faithful Mem'ry could recite What er'e in Scriptures Holy Penmen write Vain were thy Reach and vain thy Memory Unless God's Grace and Love were lodg'd in thee All 's Vanity and more than vainly vain But God's pure Love and our dear Saviour's Chain We 're wise indeed if we the World despise And grasp at Thrones and Crowns above the Skies It 's vain to covet or to trust in Gold It 's vain to be to Honours height extoll'd Vain are our carnal Lusts and fond Desires Whose Woes but preface Hell's Eternal Fires Vain is the longest Life when vainly spent Life's vain unless on future Glories bent It 's vain to love what like a Tempest flies And leave that
long'd-for Bliss which never never dies Think then on what the wisest Man reply'd The Eyes and Ears are never satisfi'd What er'e the longing Appetite receives Only a sickly Wish and tedious Longings leaves Turn then thy Soul from wretched Earth below And all thy Thoughts on heavenly Joys bestow So shall a spotless Conscience warm thy Breast And thou securely on thy Saviour's Bosom rest II. Know thy Self WOuldst thou know much my Soul and wouldst thou be From thy great Master's Service free Wouldst thou by curious Rules of Art descry The various Motions of the Sky Fond Wretch the Clown who but himself can read By that short Lesson will thy soaring Art exceed Know but thy Self thy Self thou'lt soon despise Nor to the World's Applauses rise Thy Works not Arts shall be severely scann'd When all the World in Judgment stand Cease then thy Pains and never court thy Woes Deceit and Madness still with mighty Learning goes Men pufft with Learning love the pointing Hand And much on swelling Titles stand And spend their careless Hours in empty Toys Which ne're advance their sober Joys But sure He 's mad who wondrous Knowledg gains Yet never knows the means to scape infernal Pains Great Words can never fill thy Appetite Great Actions only bring Delight Purge but thy self then boldly lift thy Face To the bright Throne of heavenly Grace Great Sense and Knowledg where the Practice fails Only the heavier Woes on wretched Souls entails Fear then thy flowing Parts thy matchless Sense And all thy vast Intelligence Know what thou wilt thou'lt but the sooner find A thousand things have slipt thy Mind A thousand Men whose Names are scarcely known Beyond thy Learning far and utmost Reach have gone Study thy Self with all exactness know How all Affairs within thee go Examin all thy Ways and soon to thee Thy Self the noblest Theme shall be If others thou before thy self prefer Such humble Thoughts express true Wisdom's Character Thou mayst perhaps another's Failures see His Crimes may lie expos'd to thee Yet scorn him not nor think thy self secure Our Steps on Earth are rarely sure Thou standst consider lest thy self should fall All Men are frail indeed but thou more frail than all III. TRVTH HAppy the Man whom Truth securely guides By secret Ways and powerful Influence Happy the Man in whose weak Head resides No false Opinion from deceitful Sense But Ignorance would rather chuse Than Time in vain Designs abuse We 're mad in Arts obscure to spend our Days To shun the Light and Intricacies chase Where God's Eternal Word the Truth displays We all at once may know and all embrace Where that once speaks we safely rest With Peace and Faith unfading blest O thou essential Truth my Soul unite To thee by all the Bonds of sacred Love O thou my Saviour O my Soul's Delight To whom alone my Passions fiercely move Let Earthly Teachers silent be But speak O speak dear Lord to me The more within our selves our Thoughts descend The more we see by God's superiour Light Pure Souls to Holy Works more strongly bend To raise God's Honour and his Acts recite Only our Lusts unconquer'd curb Our Motions and our Thoughts disturb The pious Soul those inward Lusts restrains Nor bows to them but them to Reason bows The brightest Crown the great Self-conqueror gains And by his Conquest daily stronger grows All other Skill's an empty Show And all 's imperfect here below Wouldst thou then go to God not glaring Parts But humble Thoughts can reach his glorious Seat Arts made by God are good but vertuous Hearts Pure Lives and lowly Thoughts more truly great And all in fruitless Error die Who more to know than practise try O would a foolish World at last improve As much in Goodness as in vain Disputes But thro what Gloom that subtle Head must move Whose Practice all his godly Talk refutes Who falls and leaves no Name behind Put out of Sight is out of Mind He 's truly great who 's great in Charity He 's great who 's humble and can Greatness scorn He 's wise who Worth in none but Christ can see He 's learn'd who 's to Divine Obedience born Tho all inferior Glories fly His balmy Name shall never die IV. PRVDENCE WHAT e're we read what e're we hear Let Holy Care with Patience weigh for Truth alas we weakly bear But Falshood gains a mighty Sway. The Wise Man knows our faulty State To loose Discourse and Guilt inclin'd And always measures things by Weight To no uncertain Tales resign'd He 'll ne're run headlong on nor will he be Stiff in his own Conceit and sensless Bigotry Receive not then each idle Tale Nor all thou hear'st to all relate But let a wise Man's Words prevail Above thy own his Counsels rate A Holy Life a Life refin'd Owners Godlike Wisdom proves And with Experience fills the Mind And with Divine Contentment moves Where God a lowly Heart a Subject gains There only Prudence thrives and inward Calmness reigns V. Search the Scriptures SEE Read these Sacred Volumes o're This wondrous Book survey Truth in its antient Springs explore Thy Studies on the mighty Subject stay Perhaps no modish Stuff no milky Phrase Thy sickly Sense may gratify Yet there blest Truth her Beams displays And all her Treasures lie See read again to clear thy Mind The Spirit 's Help implore That God's who first the Book design'd Whose Badg the well instructed Penmen wore Instructive Truth in common Language lies In plain and easy Words exprest But Falshood off like Vapour flies Tho ne're so gayly drest Shouldst thou mysterious Language love Or lofty Flights admire Thou 'lt meet with Raptures here above What e're thy own presuming Thoughts inspire Don't yet Devotions humble Stile despise But read with calm Attention there Brook the thirsty Lamb supplies Whose Streams are soft and clear Perhaps thou'lt find a Shepherd write A Herdsman prophesy But if the Spirit all indite Where can the Prejudice against them lie Authority and Learning only He On all that Holy Tribe bestows And all thy Studies there should be Where Truth sincerely flows If Truth in every Sentence shine And give thee certain Light Thou know'st Truth 's Words are all Divine Tho meanest Men her sacred Dictates write The mortal Penmen soon are past and gone To Dust from whence at first they came Truth claims Eternity alone And still remains the same Thy Wit thy Learning and thy Parts Perhaps are more than mine But God who reads our inmost Hearts May on my Soul with greater Favours shine Be thou impartial too with careful Eyes Examine all the Sacred Roll Th' inestimableTreasure prize As thy immortal Soul Wouldst thou in Holy Sense improve Then lay thy self aside All vain and curious Thoughts remove And Self-Conceit and unbelieving Pride Ask oft and with submissive Silence weigh What Holy Men declar'd of old Thy Judgments on their Dictates stay And their Directions hold VI. There is
I 'll more prepare And on Religion then attend with warmer Care On these my God was Born on these he Dy'd On these he Rose on these in Flame On us the Spirit gently came On these their Lord his valiant Martyrs try'd Up then my Soul awake arise Reach tow'rd the Goal grasp at thy kindred Skies I shall found so employed be blest And in a nobler Trust and fuller Glories rest XIX O that I had Wings like a Dove ENough enough in this vain World I find To disengage my wandring Mind To wean me from the Joys below And Anchoret or Hermit grow A thousand Follies here assault me round A thousand noisy Tales my Thoughts confound I want a little time for me Of Silence and of Privacy Where I my humble Heart might raise To sing my great Creator's lofty Praise And there with undiscover'd Tears begin To cleanse my self from hateful Sin Fain would I meditate on what 's to come A while before I 'm summon'd home Fain would I exercise my Mind A while on that long Life behind How should I act Blest Saints of old withdrew To Woods and Rocks and Caves from human View There they enjoy'd themselves and there With humble Prayers and Lives severe Had quiet Sleeps and peaceful Dreams And Vertues were their lively Fancies Themes There they converst with God and learnt to dwell With him who was Invisible But what are meaner Saints My Saviour too From noisy Crouds to Mountains flew And there in lonesome Silence pray'd And thence his Heavenly Sermons made Would I with him to just Perfection rise With Truth forgot the careless World surprize He who a while reserv'd has been May be with greater Safety seen He safely speaks who Silence chose He governs best who best Subjection knows Obedience is by him most kindly nurst Who was himself obedient first When thro a lonesome wild or silent Grove Secur'd by Innocence I rove There where no bloody Tyrants reign Nor cruel wrested Laws restrain Where I sole King my self at large command And only at my own Tribunal stand Yet my Creator's every where And he 's my holy Guardian there He 's still my Fear my Master still And I his Laws with utmost Care fulfil No holy Hermit in his Cell can lie More humble more devout than I. Yet tho I rest or wander where I please Temptations oft upon me seize Tho parted from the noisy Rout Hell's Gloomy Prince can find me out Nor could my Saviour from his Strokes be free When in his solitary Privacy Yet when alone I spend my Time In Extasies and Fights sublime And dream Celestial Visions roul In glorious Order thro my raptur'd Soul Temptations may redeem my languid Sense From Pride and sinful Confidence O could I quit the World and worldly Toys It s vain Solicitudes and Joys How would my harmless Conscience rest All quiet in my peaceful Breast But can I e're to such Attainments rise Till Grief for Sin break thro my mournful Eyes Till to my lustful Follies I At thousand bleeding Wounds can die And in my humble private Cell Long with my self in silent Sorrows dwell So I indeed above the World below May rise and better stronger grow When from my Lord the baffled Fiend retir'd And all his cruel Hopes expir'd Convinc'd his deadly Enemy True God not Man alone must be Straight at his Feet Angelick Armies kneel'd With Hymns of Praise for that triumphant Field So when in private Silence I My hellish Tempters Arts defy And Scripture-Light and constant Tears Wash out my Stains and guide my fading Years My God will my endear'd Companion be And Angels always wait on me What can I gain below but empty Toys A wretched World and sensual Joys Where all to ruine and betray Black Lusts their horrid Charms display Where shortliv'd Joys to tedious Woes succeed And Terrors on the wounded Conscience feed Were all things mine that All would be But visionary Vanity Look up my Soul then Pardon crave And let vain Men their vainer Longings have Be Christ but thine his Peace around thee dwell Thou l't love the darkest Cave and hug the loneliest Cell XX. A broken and a contrite Heart O God thou wilt not despise Wouldst thou improve my Soul With Fear Before thy God's all-piercing Eyes appear Retrench thy Mirth thy wandring Sense restrain Esteem a contrite Heart thy noblest Gain Contrition that vast Treasure shews Which vain Desires and careless Manners loose It 's strange that thoughtless Men can bear Such Shews of Mirth when wretched Exiles here And such dire Woes such mighty Dangers near Fools oft with an undecent Grin Throw Ashes o're those glowing Coals within And fain would with an ill-tim'd Laughter hide Those cruel Pangs their tortur'd Souls divide Give me when with true Mirth I 'm blest A peaceful Conscience in a peaceful Breast Happy 's the Man who mourning goes Who off the Weight of guilty Conscience throws And can his Soul to holy Grief compose Ne're for a Mass of Business strive Nor into great Mens dangerous Secrets dive Look first at home first give thy Counsels there And ne're cast down for worldly Frowns appear Grieve for thy Sins against thy God Or when awry thy wandring Steps have trod Crosses on Earth are better far Than all that Mirth our foolish Thoughts prepare When we build Castles in the fleeting Air. For Joys I 'll sow the fruitful Seed And with salt Tears the swelling Ocean feed Till rising Tides with briny Floods shall kill Those noisome Weeds which now my Fancy fill That happy Desolation past Fresh springing Joys shall crown my Soul at last Tears from the Sense of Sin will rise Contrition send the failing Springs supplies And draw sweet Dews of Comfort from the Skies Think how thy Life like Lightning flies How every Hour thy languid Nature dies Think on those dreadful Pains of Hell beneath Those lingring Tortures that immortal Death And wouldst thou hug the Viper still Whose deadly Sting will all thy Comforts kill Wipe off thy Sins at last for Shame In thy cold Breast blow up the sacred Flame And thy reforming Life by Deeds reform'd proclaim XXI Man is born to Trouble us the Sparks fly upward WEll then I 've search'd the wretched World around I 've search'd it thro and nothing else have found But constant Doubts and constant Woes I see how miserable others are I feel my self just lost in black Despair While endless Doubts my tedious Years compose I 've seen a mighty Prince enthron'd His Head with Gems embrac'd By suppliant crouding Vassals own'd And all th' Applauses of the Vulgar grac'd Yet Cares sate thicker on his clouded Brows Than Diamonds and rack'd his tortur'd Soul Dark Plots could all his midnight Slumbers rouse And Rebels all his glaring Bliss controul But he who to his Maker flies Above these earthly Fears above the World can rise Yet thoughtless Fools the pompous World adore And only covet its perplexing Store And raise alas
Divine What Flames should then enlarge my Heart When in my Saviour I expect a Part How should I dress to meet my bleeding Lord While every Type great Kings and Saints of old ador'd David before that precious Ark of old Could not his warm Affections hold But danc'd with all his Might and loudly play'd His tuneful Harp he strung And to his Harp he sung When that thro' Sion's Gates its Entrance made Sweet were his Airs and soft his Stroke When he 'd His Jews to holy Joys provoke God's Spirit on his Heart abode And Prayers and Blessings with his Musick flow'd Such Zeal that Antient Type pursu'd And shan't my Heart with nobler Heat indu'd Shan't it with greater Spirit embrace The Substance than the Shade of future Grace Shan't I with springy Joys my Saviour meet And at his Altars bow and kiss his sacred Feet Fools oft to see pretended Reliques fly And cast a curious wondring Eye On Fanes to Saints Imaginary rais'd Where richest Silks and Gold The dowdy Corps enfold And Thieves and Rebels are for Martyrs prais'd A thousand Pilgrimages past They prove but Hell's obdurate Slaves at last O could they rest a while at home And not to follow sensless Fancies rome Wonders on Wonders here they 'd view Far more than e're Loretto's Shrine could shew Jesus with Love and Mercies crown'd Would shed his sacred Influences round And to the Loving Hoping Faithful Heart Would all his glorious Self his heavenly Joys impart O Thou great Architect of Earth and Skies Invisible to mortal Eyes To us how wondrous all thy Actions prove And here how sweet how kind Thy Favourites may find Th' immense Expressions of Prodigious Love Unfathomable Deeps how far Too short our wretched Intellectuals are When we would sound the vast Abyss Of unintelligible Mysteries What Art that Mirroir could compose By which the Souls of faithful Saints disclose Their Saviour in a Sacrament And on his bleeding gaping Wounds intent Eat his dear Flesh and drink his sacred Blood That Bread of Life and this immortalizing Flood Who can those Capillary Rills descry By which unbodied Graces fly Thro' bodied Symbols to the faithful Mind How pure Devotion 's Fires How Vertue 's warm Desires Room in the Sinner with Repentance find What hidden Sweets can Faith descry How sharp how piercing is the faithful Eye He meets a thousand Graces here Lost Vertues in his Soul reviv'd appear And tho deform'd by Sins before This can its Beauties and its Charms restore Nay the best balmy Symbols may New Life and Health to fainting Saints convey While Faithless Souls meer Bread and Wine partake And but a damning Feast of empty Symbols make But ah how cold how deadly cold we prove To meet our dear Redeemer's Love How we refuse his kind extended Arms Arms which alone can be Our Souls security From Death's Tyrannic Force and Hell's Alarms He purifies our Natures He From endless Torments dearly sets us free Beneath his Shade we safely move And feel the Beams shot from his Orb of Love Why should we then so cold appear To all his Loves Mysterious Tendries here Ah Blind ah Rocky-hearted Crew Who can so slow such wondrous Grace pursue More careless as their Master kinder grows And can with stubborn Hearts his offer'd Loves oppose Were but one single Sacrament design'd The World to one sole Priest confin'd What Sholes would to the distant Temple flow How would they stretch their Eyes To see these Mysteries How eager for that Heavenly Banquet grow But when a thousand Pastors wait And all may with their Lord participate When so immense his Loves appear Alas we nauseate the Celestial Chear Yet Jesus Holy Shepherd we Poor Exiles now present our Thanks to Thee Thy Flesh thy Blood our Souls relieves Thy tender Call our dying Faith retrieves Come all to Me with Sins vast Weights opprest I 'll give you sudden Ease I 'll give you certain Rest II. Behold how he loved Vs Believer MOV'D by thy Goodness and thy Mercies I Dear Lord to thy Assistance fly Touch'd with a thousand Plagues I come to Thee O be the great Physician Lord to Me Hungry and Thirsty Lord I bring A fainting Soul to Life's Immortal Spring A Beggar I Heaven's gracious King adore A Servant I my Master's Smiles implore Form'd by thy Hand Lord here I stand And for my great Creator's Bounties wait And for his Comforts in a ruin'd helpless State Whence is it that my God should come to Me O what am I thus grac'd by Thee How can a guilty Soul endure thy Sight How in a Miscreant can my God delight Thou know'st no Good resides in Me And I my own my inward Vileness see Thy Grace thy Goodness and thy boundless Love I own I honour and with Thanks improve And for thy sake I 'd here partake That I my tender smiling God might know O mayn't my horrid Crimes obstruct the wondrous Flow Sweet gracious God! with what respectful Praise Should I thy spreading Glories blaze Who for our sakes a mortal Nature took But who can thro' the Mystick Bounty look What can I think when worthless I May hold Communion with the Deity What can I do but with a prideless Mind Some Means t' extol thy boundless Goodness find Thy endless Praise My God I 'll raise But ever ever Lord my Self despise And from the lowliest State to heavenly Favours rise Lo Thou' rt incomprensible Sanctity A filthy loathsom Sinner I Unfit to raise my sinful Eyes to Thee But Thou Great God couldst condescend to Me. Lo Thou canst in a Wretch delight A Beggar to a plenteous Feast invite thou 'dst have me banquet on Celestial Food On Bread of Angels and Divinely Good Thou Lord wouldst be That Bread to Me That Bread of Life which from above descends And Life and Vigour thro a fainting World extends See! see my Soul whence such bright Loves can shine And Condescensions all divine What Thanks what Praise are to thy Saviour due How should thy Service as his Name be true How salutary Lord how kind In this we all thy mighty Counsels find The Food all costly and the Banquet sweet Where we by Faith our great Redeemer meet Thy powerful Cares Thy Truth declares Thy Words from Nothing sprung the World of old In less than Nothing now eternal Truths unfold My Lord my God Great God and Man that Thou Shouldst tow'rd a wretched Creature bow That thou thy self in Bread and Wine shouldst give In true Believers humble Hearts to live What Sense such Wonders can pursue So True so Strange yet not so Strange as True Thou Lord of All who hadst no need of Me Yet by a Sacrament my Guest wouldst be Lord keep my Heart O ne'r depart Till I by thy effectual Influence find A Body spotless pure to lodg a peaceful Mind It 's thy Appointment Lord design'd by Thee To celebrate thy Memory O may I oft thy Merits here record O may I oft here meet my
with the Violence of a hot Brain and too much Light may strike a Man quite blind yet humble as the Original is I have sometimes adventur'd to soar a little but never out of Sight To compensate for the meanness of the Stile I have drest it out in the greater Variety of Numbers and have tuned them to the Judicious Ear so as nothing in them may sound harsh or ungratefully and instead of the Original Chapters I have put a Text of Scripture generally pretty apposite in the head of every Division It may now perhaps supersede the Common English Prose Translation but I 'm not for discarding even Sternhold and Hopkins for a worse Version of David 's Psalms nor that Prose for tedious and ill-sounding Rhimes The 3d Book being all Dialogue I have given all fitting Variety to without resolving it into Stanza's In short by the Smoothness of the Verse the general Correctness of the English and that pious Air which runs thro' the whole some I hope may be drawn to admire Divine Poetry and to court a native Loveliness more than a flaunting adulterated Beauty The Employ was a happy Diversion of those Melancholic Thoughts which else might have affected one too much who had met with no extraordinary good Usage from the World In it I endeavour'd as much as possible to make the Author's Sentiments so far as justifiable my own and the Peruser may read my Heart and the Original Composer's together And indeed whoever would Translate or Paraphrase an Author well must try to work up himself to the same temper he was in when he wrote the Original A narrow Soul can't exhibit the Excellencies of Homer or Virgil in another Language nor will David 's Harp sound well in any Hand but where the same Spirit who influenced that sweet Singer of Israel has in some measure possest the Heart and harmoniz'd the Life and Conversation I expect the Criticks should spend their Verdicts upon the Performance As for the Subject it 's too much out of the road of the Witty Tribe they 'l let it alone for the same reason for which Aretine spoke no evil of God But they 'l carp at an Epithet or nibble at a Phrase and look upon it as very Affrontive that a little Theologue should pretend acquaintance with the Muses that he should presume to censure the Brethren of Parnassus or divert Poetry from the Service of lewd Mistresses from Burlesquing the most Divine Truths from profane Rants and blasphemous Flights from the Slavery of an obscene Stage and gratifying a corrupted Populace To all this He must plead Guilty He owns he loves and reverences that Holy Religion which they scoff at and ridicule and here as a late Author expresses it Is a Field of Satyr open'd to Him But he had rather spend his Time in composing Hymns to the Glory of his Maker than Satyrs upon an Atheistical Crew not that he fears their Returns but he thinks every Minute mispent which is laid out upon them I pretend not yet that I have made a compleat Poem of the Christian Pattern perhaps even the great Corneille fail'd in that tho some say his Paraphrase on our Author was his Masterpiece I dream not of having honour'd my Country exalted my Mother Tongue that I have wrong'd my Author less than others have done that my Faults are neither gross nor frequent and all that Those who are us'd to admire themselves can't forbear it when they have one Foot in the Grave but the old Hound deserves the Cudgel who thinks he can pinch as close when his Teeth are out as he could in his more vigorous Years If a good Christian as well as a good Critick shews me my Error I 'll correct it Criticism should aim only at mending what 's amiss The true Critick distinguishes of the Stiles of Authors gives us an Authentick Text and the true Import of Words in particular Writers shews the difference between spurious and genuine Pieces that Relation there is between Mens Writings and the Laws and Usages of the Countries or Places they write in or about He tries to fix the Aera's of great Revolutions and of particular if considerable Events and endeavours to shew the Cryptick Sense of the most learned or obscure Authors The Critick who employs himself thus deserves not the Character of ill Nature he only helps to set things in their true Light where he shews any Man his Mistakes he gives him an opportunity of rectifying 'um that he may look out into the World with the Eulogies of some reasonable Creature beside himself He lets the World see how much they are oft impos'd on by Names and Noise and how justly they may complain Grandia saepe quibus mandavimus Hordea sulcis Infelix Lolium steriles nascuntur avenae Which notwithstanding the New Version of that great Poet I 'd render thus Oft where with fairest Grain we sow'd the Fields Darnel and barren Oats the luckless Harvest yeilds Some Gentlemen perhaps who by the Religion they profess claim kindred with Heathens Jews and Mahometans for it 's good to be of the strongest side may think I have gone out of my way that 's the Word under the last Head to meet with them I must confess I have some Obligations to them which in due time God willing I shall very faithfully discharge I can't wonder that those who have call'd my Mother Whore should fix a malicious Character upon Me. They are a Generation formidable not for their reasoning Faculty but for their Jesuitism and Impudence They deal with the Defenders of Truth as Aethiopian Apes with their Enemy the Lion they fling all the Sand and Dust they can rake together into his Mouth and Eyes and then run away grinning and hope to escape in a Cloud of their own Raising They shelter their Sawciness under the Pretence of a fine new Discovery they have found doubtless after much Fasting and Prayer as Father Laelius of old that there are Nominal and Real Trinitarians and who would regard them who are so divided among themselves as if those who assert the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be real distinct Persons or Subsistences in the same Divine Nature and those who assert That every particular Person has his own peculiar Mode of Subsistence in that Divine Nature did not both believe a real Trinity Or as if They were not to be credited in their most solemn Asseverations when these Night-Birds declareing their Agreement with the Church of England that superannuated Beldam that Empire of King Oberon as they sometimes very respectfully call Her expect to be believed tho to believe them a Man must crack more Flashoods and notorious Contradictions than all those Mysteries amount to which they have pretended to break their Teeth upon Indeed if they 'd own once that the Father in and by Himself is infinite Eternal Incomprehensible c. that the Son is in and by Himself Infinite Eternal Incomprehensible