A Collection of Miscellanies Consisting of Poems, Essays, Discourses & Letters, Occasionally Written. By John Norris ... The Second Edition Corrected |
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The Advice.
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 | A Collection of Miscellanies |  |
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The Advice.
Prudens futuri temporis exitum
Caliginosa nocte premit Deus.
Hor.
Caliginosa nocte premit Deus.
Hor.
I
What's forming in the Womb of fateWhy art thou so concern'd to know?
Dost think 'twould be advantage to thy state?
But Wiser Heaven does not think it so.
With thy Content thou would'st this Knowledge buy,
No part of life thou'dst pleasant find
For dread of what thou see'st behind,
Thou would'st but tast of the inlightning fruit and Dye.
II
Well then has Heaven events to comeHid with the blackest Veil of night;
But still in vain if we forestall our doom
And with Prophetick fears our selves affright:
Grand folly! whether thus 'twill be or no
We Know not, and yet silly Man
Secures his evils what he can,
And stabs himself with Grief, lest Fate should miss the Blow.
III
Be wise, and let it be thy CareTo manage well the present hour;
Call home thy ranging thoughts and fix them here,
This only mind, this only's in thy power.
The rest no setled, Steddy course maintain,
Like Rivers, which now gently slide
Within their bounds, now with full Tide
O'reflow, whom houses, cattel, trees resist in vain.
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IV
'Tis He that's happy, He aloneLives free and pleasant that can say
With every period of the setting Sun,
I've lived, and run my race like him to day.
To Morrow let the angry Heavens frown,
Or smile with influence more kind,
On Chance depends what's yet behind,
But sure what I have seiz'd already's all my own.
V
Fortune who no diversion knowsLike disappointment, laughs to see
How Variously she can her gifts Transpose,
Sometimes to one, sometimes t'another free.
Be sure t' enjoy her while she's pleas'd to stay.
But if for flight she does prepare,
Don't you at parting drop a tear,
But hold your Vertue fast, for that alone you may.
| A Collection of Miscellanies | |