The Poems of John Byrom :: :: University of Virginia Library

My lord,
Untaught by Nature or by Art
To give the genuine Dictates of my Heart
The Gloss of Compliment, I never less
Than now should aim at that polite Excess,—
Now, that my wand'ring Thoughts are fix'd upon
Not Martha's many Things, but Mary's one.

'Tis not from any ceremonious View,
But to discharge a real, needful Due
From Friend to Friend in Absence, that I write
To mine, secluded from his wonted Sight;
By Force oblig'd to give, and to receive
A long—perhaps, a last departing—Leave;
For small, by ev'ry Test of human Ken,
The Hopes of meeting in this World again.

Under such Circumstances I recall
My Friend, whose Honour, Person, Fortune, All,
So dear to me, make Bosom-Wish to swell,
That he may always prosper and do well,
Where'er he goes, whate'er he takes in Hand,
Under the Favour, Service, and Command
Of His protecting Providence, from Whom
All Happiness, if truly such, must come.

My Friend's Abilities and present State
Of natural Endowments how I rate,—
To God what Glory, to himself what Use,
The best Exertion of them might produce,—

349

I shall not here express. Enough to note
That, at such Times as I was most remote
From all dissembling, Witnesses enow
Can vouch my speaking what I thought was true!

The Truths which Love now prompts me to remind
Your Lordship of, are of the following Kind:
First,—that whatever Talents you possess,
They are God's Gifts, Whom you are bound to bless;
Next,—that you have them, not as Things your own,
Tho' for your Use, yet not for yours alone,
But as an human Stewarty or Trust,
Of which Account is to be giv'n, and just.
So that, in fine, if Talents are applied
To serve the Spirit of the World in Pride
And vain Delights, as he who rules the Scenes
Of guilty Joy, the Prince of Darkness, means,—
It is Ingratitude, Injustice too,
Yea, 'tis perfidious Treachery in you.
For, if a Servant of your own should dare
To use the Goods committed to his Care
To the Advantage of your greatest Foe,
What would you think of his behaving so?
Yet how with God would you yourself do less,
Having from Him whatever you possess,
And serving with it, in the Donor's Stead,
That Foe to Him by Whom the World is led?

350

A serious Thought if you can ever lend
To Admonition from your truest Friend;
If the Regard due to your Country sways,
Which you may serve so many glorious Ways;
If an All-ruling, Righteous Pow'r above
Can raise your Dread of Justice or your Love;
If you yourself will to yourself be true,
And everlasting Happiness pursue
Before the Joys of any worldly Scheme,
The short Delusions of a pleasing Dream;
Of which, whatever it may represent,
The Soul, soon wak'd, must bitterly repent;
If these Reflections, any of them, find
Due Estimation in your prudent Mind:—
Take an Account of what is done and past,
And what the Future may demand, forecast;
The Leagues, whatever they import, repeal,
To which good Conscience has not set the Seal;
And fix your Resolution firm, to serve
Him from Whose Will no loyal Thought can swerve,—
That Gracious God from Whom in very Deed
All your Abilities and Gifts proceed,
Whether of bodily or mental Trace,—
Without, within,—of Nature, or of Grace!

Then He Who cannot possibly deny
Himself, or give His Faithfulness the Lie,
Will honour His true Servant, and impart
That real Peace of Mind, that Joy of Heart,
Of which until you are become possest,
Your Heart, your Mind, shall never be at Rest;
And when you are, by having well approv'd
The one true Way, it never shall be mov'd.

351

“This,” I foresee, your Lordship may object,
“Is Melancholy's vaporous Effect;”
That I am got into a Pris'ner's Style;
Far enough from it all the jocund While
That I was free like you, and other Men;
And, Fetters gone, should be the same again.

To which I answer: “Say it tho' you should,
Yet cannot I distrust a God so Good;
Or Mercy failing me, so greatly shown,
Or Grace forsaking, but by Fault my own.
So deeply bound to Him, my Heart so burns
To make His Mercy suitable Returns,
That, not to try, of all th' Apostate Class
Worse should I be than any other was.
I have with such repeated, solemn Stress,
Avow'd the Penitence which I profess,—
From time to Time so call'd on not a few
To witness and to watch, if it was true,
That of all Hypocrites, if found to lie,
That e'er were born, the hollowest were I.”

But should I perish in my Sins, and draw
Upon myself my own Damnation's Law,
Will it not be your Wisdom to embrace
God's offer'd Mercy, of a Saving Grace,—
To profit by Example, if you see
The fearful Case of miserable Me?

A longer Time was I a Slave to Sin
And a corrupted World than you have been;
Had many a too-too slowly-answer'd Call
That made still harder my Return from Thrall.
To come to Christ was requisite I knew;

352

But softer Pace, I flatter'd me, would do.
The Journey's End contented I remain'd
To see and own, tho' still 'twas unattain'd.
Therefore, the same Good Providence that call'd
With a kind Violence, has pull'd and haul'd,—
As public Eye may, outwardly at least,
Have seen,—and dragg'd me to the Marriage-Feast.

Kind, in this World, Affliction's heaviest Load,
That, in another, Bliss might be bestow'd;
Kind the repeated Stripes, that should correct
Of too great Knowledge a too small Effect.
God grant your Lordship may with less Alloy
Feel an unfeign'd Conversion's inward Joy,
As I do now; and find the Happy Way
Without the Torments of so long Delay!

To the Divines (and there were none beside
That nam'd Conversion to me) I replied:
“Could my Ambition enter, and possess
Your narrow Hearts, your Meekness would be less;
Were my Delights to which it gives the Rise
Tasted by you, you would be less precise.”
But you, my Lord, have the momentous Hint
From one that knows the very utmost Stint
Of all that can amuse you, whilst you live,
Of all Contentments which the World can give.

353

Think then, dear Earl, that I have stak'd and buoy'd
The Ways of Pleasure, fatally enjoy'd,
And set them up, as Marks at Sea, for you
To keep true Virtue's Channel in your View;
Think, tho' your Eyes should long be shut and fast,
They must, they must, be open'd at the last!
Truth will compel you to confess, like me,
That to the wicked Peace can never be.
With my own Soul, that Heav'n may deign to aid
My Heart's Address, this Covenant is made:
My Eyes shall never yield to Sleep at Night
Nor Thoughts attend the Bus'ness of the Light,
Till I have pray'd my God, that you may take
This plain, but faithful Warning for my Sake
With a believing Profit. Then, in you
Your Friends, your Country will be happy too,
And all your Aims succeed. Events so blest
Would fill with Comfort not to be express'd
Your Lordship's Cousin and true Friend,—so tied
That worldly Cause can never once divide,—

ESSEX.

AN ITALIAN BISHOP.

An Anecdote.

354

There is no Kind of a fragmental Note
That pleases better than an Anecdote
Or Fact unpublish'd, when it comes to rise,
And give the more agreeable Surprise.
From long Oblivion sav'd, an useful Hint
Is doubly grateful, when reviv'd in Print.
A late and striking Instance of this Kind
Delighted many an attentive Mind;
This Anecdote my Task is to rehearse,
As highly fit to be consign'd to Verse.

There liv'd a Bishop, once upon a Time,—
Where, is not said, but Italy the Clime,—
An honest, pious Man, who understood
How to behave as a true Bishop should;
But thro' an Opposition, form'd to blast
His good Designs by Men of diff'rent Cast,
He had some tedious Struggles and a Train
Of rude Affronts and Insults to sustain,—
And did sustain; with calm, unruffled Mind
He bore them all, and never once repin'd.
An intimate Acquaintance, one who knew
What Difficulties he had waded thro'
Time after Time, and very much admir'd
A Patience so provok'd and so untir'd,
Made bold to ask him, if he could impart
Or teach the Secret of his happy Art.
“Yes,” said the good old Prelate, “that I can;
And 'tis a plain and practicable Plan.
For all the Secret that I know of, lies
In making a right Use of my own Eyes.”

355

Begg'd to explain himself, how that should be,
“Why, in whatever State I am,” said he,
“I first look up to Heav'n, as well aware,
That to get thither is my main Affair.
I then look down upon the Earth and think,
In a short space of Time how small a Chink
I shall possess of its extensive Ground;
And then I cast my seeing Eyes around,
Where more Distress appears on ev'ry Side
Amongst Mankind than I myself abide.
So that, reflecting on my own Concern,
First,—where true Happiness is plac'd, I learn;
Next,—let the World to what it will pretend,
I see where all its Good and Ill must end;
Last,—how unjust it is, as well as vain,
Upon a fair Discernment, to complain.
Thus, looking up and down and round about,
Right use of Eyes may find my Secret out:
‘With Heav'n in view,—his real Home, in fine,—
Nothing on Earth should make a Man repine.’”

ON RESIGNATION.

To a Friend in Trouble.

356

Dear Child, know this, that He Who gave thee Breath,
Almighty God, is Lord of Life and Death,
And all Things that concern them, such as these,—
Youth, Health, or Strength; Age, Weakness, or Disease!
Wherefore, whatever thy Affliction be,
Take it as coming from thy God to thee!
Whether to teach thee Patience be its End;
Or to instruct such Persons as attend,
That Faith and Meekness, tried by Suff'rings past,
May yield Increase of Happiness at last;
Or whether it be sent for some Defect,
Which He, who wants to bless thee, would correct,—
Certain it is, that if thou dost repent,
And take thy Cross up patiently, when sent,
Trusting in Him Who sends it thee, to take
For Jesus Christ His Son, thy Saviour's, Sake,
Wholly submitting to His blessed Will,
Whose Visitation seeks thy Profit still,—
All that thou dost, or ever canst endure,
Will make thy everlasting Joy more sure!

Take therefore what befalls thee in good Part,
As a Prescription of Love's Healing Art!
“Whom the Lord loveth He chastiseth too,”
Saith Paul, “and scourgeth with a Saving View.”

357

It is the Mark by which He owns a Child,
Without it not so honourably styl'd.
Fathers according to the Flesh, when they
Correct them, Children rev'rence and obey;
How much more justly may That Father claim,
By Whom we live eternally, the same!
They oft chastise thro' Humour of their own,
He always for our greater Good alone,—
Chast'ning below, that we may rise above,
Holy and happy in our Father's Love.

These Things, for Comfort and Instruction fit,
In Holy Scripture for our Sakes are writ,
That with a patient and enduring Mind
In all Conditions we may be resign'd;
And, rev'rencing our Father and our Friend,
Take what His Goodness shall be pleas'd to send.
What greater Good, considering the Whole,
Than Christ's Own Likeness in a Christian Soul
By patient Suff'ring? Think what Ills, before
He enter'd into Joy, our Saviour bore;
What Things He suffer'd to retrieve our Loss,
And make His Way to Glory thro' the Cross
The Way for us; He wanted none to make
But for the poor lost human Sinner's Sake;
For them He suffer'd more than Words can tell,
Or Thought conceive. Reflect upon it well,

358

Dear Child, and whether Life or Death remains,
Depend on Him to sanctify thy Pains;
To be Himself thy strong Defence, and Tow'r;
To make thee know and feel His saving Pow'r!
Still taught by Him repeat, “Thy Will be done”
And trust in God thro' His Belovèd Son.

A POETICAL VERSION OF A LETTER FROM JACOB BEHMEN TO A FRIEND, ON THE SAME OCCASION.

361

I

Dear Brother in our Saviour Christ! His Grace
And Love premis'd in your afflictive Case,
I have consider'd of it and have brought
The Whole with Christian sympathetic Thought
Before the Will of the Most High, to see
What it would please Him to make known to me;

II

And, thereupon, I give you, Sir, to know,
What a true Insight He was pleas'd to show
Into the Cause and Cure of all your Grief
And present Trial; which I shall in brief
Set down for a Memorial, and declare
For you to ponder with a serious Care.

362

III

First, then, the Cause to which we must assign
Your strong Temptation, is the Love Divine,
The Goodness Supernatural, above
All Utt'rance, flowing from the God of Love,—
Seeking the creaturely and human Will,
To free it from Captivity to Ill.

IV

And, then, the Struggle with so Great a Grace
In human Will, refusing to embrace,
Tho' tender'd to it with a Love so pure,—
It seeks itself and strives against a Cure.
From his own Love to transitory Things,
More than to God, the real Evil springs.

V

'Tis Man's own Nature, which in its own Life,
Or Centre, stands in Enmity and Strife,
And anxious, selfish, doing what it lists,
(Without God's Love) that tempts him, and resists;
The Devil also shoots his fiery Dart,
From Grace and Love to turn away the Heart.

VI

This is the greatest Trial; 'tis the Fight
Which Christ, with His internal Love and Light.
Maintains within Man's Nature, to dispel
God's Anger, Satan, Sin, and Death, and Hell;
The human Self, or Serpent, to devour,
And raise an Angel from it by His Pow'r.

363

VII

Now if God's Love in Christ did not subdue
In some Degree this Selfishness in you,
You would have no such Combat to endure;
The Serpent, then, triumphantly secure,
Would unoppos'd exert its native Right,
And no such Conflict in your Soul excite.

VIII

For all the huge Temptation and Distress
Rises in Nature, tho' God seeks to bless;
The Serpent feeling its tormenting State,
(Which of itself is a mere anxious Hate,)
When God's amazing Love comes in, to fill
And change the selfish to a God-like Will.

IX

Here Christ, the Serpent-bruiser, stands in Man,
Storming the Devil's hellish, self-built Plan;
And hence the Strife within the human Soul,—
Satan's to kill, and Christ's to make it whole;
As by Experience, in so great Degree,
God in His Goodness causes you to see.

X

Now, while the Serpent's Head is bruis'd, the Heel
Of Christ is stung, and the poor Soul must feel
Trembling and Sadness, while the Strivers cope,
And can do nothing but stand still in Hope;
Hardly be able to lift up its Face,
For mere Concern, and pray to God for Grace.

364

XI

The Serpent, turning it another Way,
Shows it the World's alluring, fine Display;
Mocking its Resolution to forego,
For a new Nature, the engaging Show;
And represents the taking its Delight
In present Scenes as natural and right.

XII

Thus, in the Wilderness with Christ alone,
The Soul endures Temptation of its own;
While all the Glories of this World display'd,
Pleasures and Pomps, surround it, and persuade
Not to remain so humble and so still,
But elevate itself in own Self-will.

XIII

The next Temptation, which befalls of Course
From Satan and from Nature's selfish Force,
Is, when the Soul has tasted of the Love
And been illuminated from Above;
Still in its Self-hood it would seek to shine,
And as its own possess the Light Divine.

XIV

That is, the soulish Nature,—take it right,
As much a Serpent, if without God's Light,
As Lucifer,—this Nature still would claim
For own Propriety the Heav'nly Flame,
And elevate its Fire to a Degree
Above the Light's Good Pow'r, which cannot be.

365

XV

This domineering Self, this Nature-Fire,
Must be transmuted to a Love-Desire.
Now, when this Change is to be undergone,
It looks for some own Pow'r, and, finding none,
Begins to doubt of Grace, unwilling quite
To yield up its self-willing Nature's Right.

XVI

It ever quakes for Fear, and will not die
In Light Divine, tho' to be blest thereby:
The Light of Grace it thinks to be Deceit,
Because it worketh gently without Heat;
Mov'd too by outward Reason, which is blind,
And of itself sees nothing of this Kind.

XVII

Who knows, it thinketh, whether it be true
That God is in thee, and enlightens too?
Is it not Fancy? For thou dost not see
Like other People, who as well as thee
Hope for Salvation by the Grace of God,
Without such Fear and Trembling at his Rod.

XVIII

Thus the poor Soul, accounted for a Fool
By all the Reas'ners of a gayer School,
By all the graver People who embrace
Mere verbal Promises of future Grace,
Sighs from its deep internal Ground, and pants
For such enlight'ning Comfort as it wants;

366

XIX

And fain would have,—but Nature can, alas!
Do Nothing of itself to bring to pass,—
And is thro' its own Impotence afraid
That God rejects it, and will give no Aid;
Which with regard to the Self-will is true;
For God rejects it, to implant a new.

XX

The own Self-will must die away and shine,
Rising thro' Death, in Saving Will Divine;
And from the Opposition which it tries
Against God's Will such great Temptations rise;
The Devil too is loth to lose his Prey,
And see his Fort cast down, if it obey.

XXI

For, if the Life of Christ within arise,
Self-Lust and false Imagination dies,—
Wholly, it cannot in this present Life,
But by the Flesh maintains the daily Strife,—
Dies, and yet lives; as they alone can tell
In whom Christ fights against the Pow'rs of Hell.

XXII

The third Temptation is in Mind and Will,
And Flesh and Blood, if Satan enter still;
Where the false Centres lie in Man, the Springs
Of Pride and Lust, and Love of earthly Things,
And all the Curses wish'd by other Men,
Which are occasion'd by this Devil's Den.

367

XXIII

These in the Astral Spirit make a Fort,
Which all the Sins concentre to support;
And human Will, esteeming for its Joy
What Christ, to save it, combats to destroy,
Will not resign the Pride-erected Tow'r,
Nor live obedient to the Saviour's Pow'r.

XXIV

Thus I have giv'n you, loving Sir, to know
What our Dear Saviour has been pleas'd to show
To my Consideration. Now, on This
Examine well what your Temptation is!
We must “leave all, and follow Him,” He said,
Right Christ-like poor, like our Redeeming Head.

XXV

Now, if Self-Lust stick yet upon your Mind,
Or Love of earthly Things of any Kind,
Then, from those Centres in their working Force
Such a Temptation will rise up of Course.
If you will follow, when it does arise,
My Child-like Counsel, hear what I advise!

XXVI

Fix your whole Thought upon the bitter Woe
Which our Dear Lord was pleas'd to undergo;
Consider the Reproach, Contempt, and Scorn,
The worldly State so poor and so forlorn,
Which He was so content to bear; and then,
His suff'ring, dying for us sinful Men.

368

XXVII

And thereunto give up your whole Desire
And Mind, and Will, and earnestly aspire
To be as like Him as you can; to bear
(And with a Patience bent to persevere)
All that is laid upon you, and to make
His Process yours, and purely for His Sake;

XXVIII

For Love of Him, most freely to embrace
Contempt, Affliction, Poverty, Disgrace,—
All that may happen, so you may but gain
His Blessèd Love within you, and maintain;
No longer willing with a Self-desire,
But such as Christ within you shall inspire!

XXIX

Dear Sir, I fear lest something still amiss,
Averse to Him, cause such a Strife as this.
He wills you, in His Death, with Him to die
To your own Will, and to arise thereby
In His Arising, and that Life to live
Which He is striving in your Soul to give.

XXX

Let go all earthly Will, and be resign'd
Wholly to Him with all your Heart and Mind!
Be Joy or Sorrow, Comfort or Distress,
Receiv'd alike, for He alike can bless,
To gain the Victory of Christian Faith
Over the World and all Satanic Wrath!

369

XXXI

So shall you conquer Death and Hell and Sin,
And find, at last, what Christ in you hath been.
By sure Experience will be understood
How all hath happen'd to you for your Good.
Of all His Children this hath been the Way;
And Christian Love here dictates what I say.

ON RESIGNATION.

A Fragment.

I

O happy Resignation
That rises by its fall;
That seeks no exaltation
But wins by losing all;

370

II

That conquers by complying,
Triúmphing in its lot;
That lives when it's a-dying,
And is when it is not!

ON BEARING THE CROSS.

A Dialogue.

I

Take up the Cross which thou has got,
For Love of Christ, and bear it not
As Simon of Cyrene did,
Compell'd to do as he was bid!

II

“Pray, am not I, who cannot free
“Myself, compell'd as much as he?
“I cannot shun it, and of Course
“Must bear this heavy Cross by Force.”

371

III

What dost thou get then by Disgust
At bearing that which bear thou must?
Nothing abates the Force of Ill
Like a resign'd and patient Will.

IV

“'Tis true; but how shall I obtain
“Such an Abatement of my Pain?
“Compulsion tempts me to repine
“At Simon's Case becoming mine.”

V

Look then at Jesus gone before;
Reflect on what thy Saviour bore,—
Bore, tho' He could have been set free:
Death on the Cross, for Love of Thee!

VI

“He did so.—Lord, what shall I say?
Do Thou enable me to pray,
If 'tis not possible to shun
This bitter Cross, ‘Thy Will be done!’”

A SOLILOQUY ON THE CAUSE AND CONSEQUENCES OF A DOUBTING MIND.

372

I

I muse, I doubt, I reason, and debate;—
Therefore, I am not in that perfect State
In which, when its Creation first began,
God plac'd His Own Belovèd Image, Man;
From whose high Birth, at once design'd for all,
This ever-poring Reason proves a Fall.

II

Whilst Adam stood in that immortal Life,
Wherein pure Truth excluded Doubt and Strife,
He knew, he saw, by a Diviner Light,
All that was good for Knowledge or for Sight.
But when the Serpent-Subtlety of Hell
Brought him to doubt, and reason,—then he fell.

III

Fell,—by declining from an upright Will,
And sunk into a State of Good and Ill.

373

The very State of such a World as this
Became a Death to his immortal Bliss,—
Bliss, which his Reason gave him not before
The Loss ensued, nor after could restore.

IV

From him desending, all the human Race
Must needs partake the Nature of his Case;
Just as the Trunk, the Branches, or the Fruit,
Derive their Substance from the parent Root.
What Life or Death into the Father came,
The Sons, tho' guiltless, could but have the same.

V

If I am one, if ever I must live
The blissful Life which God design'd to give,
As Reason dictates, or as some Degree
Of higher Light enables one to see,—
It cannot rise from being born on Earth
Without a second, new, and Heav'nly Birth.

VI

The Gospel-Doctrine, which assures to Men
The joyful Truth of being “born again,”
Demands the free Consent of ev'ry Will
That seeks the Good, and to escape the Ill;
In all the sav'd right Reason must allow
Such Birth effected, tho' it knows not how.

VII

Such was the Faith in Life's Redeeming Seed,
Of poor fall'n Man the Comfort and the Creed;
Such was the Hope before and since the Flood,
In ev'ry Time and Place, of all the good;

374

Till the new Birth of Jesus from above
Reveal'd below the Mystery of Love.

VIII

His Virgin Birth, Life, Death and Re-ascent
Explain what all God's Dispensations meant.
God give me Grace to shun the doubting Crime,
Since nothing follows intermediate Time
But Life or Death, eternally to rule
A blessèd Christian, or a cursèd Fool!

A PLAIN ACCOUNT OF THE NATURE AND DESIGN OF TRUE RELIGION.

I

“What is Religion?”—Why, it is a Cure
Giv'n in the Gospel gratis to the Poor
By Jesus Christ, the Healer of the Soul;
Which all who take are sure to be made whole;
And they who will not, all the Art of Man
May strive to cure them, but it never can.

375

II

“Care for what Malady?”—For that of Sin,
From whence all other Maladies begin.
It had its Rise in Adam first of all;
And all his Sons, partaking of his Fall,
Want a new Adam to beget them free
From Sin and Death; and Jesus Christ is He.

III

“How it is giv'n?”—By raising a new Birth
Of Heav'nly Life, surviving that of Earth;
Which may at any Time,—at some it must,—
Return its mortal Body to the Dust;
And then the Born of God in Christ again
Will rise immortal, true angelic Men.

IV

“Why in the Gospel?”—Gospel is, indeed,
In its true living Sense, the Holy Seed,
By God's great Mercy first in Adam sown,
And first in Christ to full Perfection grown,—
Fulness, from which all holy Souls derive,
And Bodies too, the Pow'r to be alive.

V

“Why gratis giv'n?”—Because the Love-desire
Of God, in Christ, can never work for Hire.

376

Its Nature is to love for Loving's Sake,
To give itself to ev'ry Will to take;
To them it brings amidst the darkest Night
Its Life and Immortality to Light.

VI

“Why to the Poor?”—Because they feel their Want,
Which Trust in Riches is so loth to grant.
The Rich have something which they call their own;
The Poor have nothing, but to Christ alone
They owe Themselves, and pay Him what they owe,
And what Religion is They only know.

ON THE TRUE MEANING OF THE SCRIPTURE TERMS “LIFE” AND “DEATH,” WHEN APPLIED TO MEN.

377

I

True Life, according to the Scripture Plan,
Is God's Own Likeness in His Image, Man.
This was the Life that Adam ceas'd to live,
Or lost by Sin, and therefore could not give;
So that his Offspring, all the born on Earth,
Want a New Parent of this Heav'nly Birth.

II

This, Christ alone, God's Image Most Express,
The Second Adam, gives them to possess,—
Becoming Man, reversing human Fall,
And raising up the First, True Life in all;
Healing our Nature's deadly Wound within,
And quenching Wrath, or Death, or Hell, or Sin.

III

For all such Words describe one evil Thing,
Or Want of Good, that has one only Spring,—
The Love of God in Christ, which form'd at first
A blessèd Adam and redeem'd a curst
By his own Act; Good only was design'd
For Adam, and in him for all Mankind.

IV

He fell from Good, misusing his free Will,

378

Into this World, this Life of Good and Ill;
From whence the willing to be sav'd revive,
Thro' Faith and Penitence in Christ alive.
A second Death succeeds, if they refuse;
For choosing Creatures must have what they choose.

V

For bare Existence, when we go from hence,
Is Immortality in Scripture Sense;
For thus alike immortal are confest
The good, the bad,—the ruin'd and the blest;
Whose inbred Tempers hint the Reason why
They live for ever, or for ever die.

VI

God's Likeness, Light and Spirit in the Soul
Make, as at first, its blest, immortal Whole.
'Tis Death to want them. Vain is all Dispute;
The Gospel only reaches to the Root.
All the inspir'd have understood it thus:
“Immortal Life is that of Christ in Us.”

379

ON THE GROUND OF TRUE AND FALSE RELIGION.

I

Explain Religion by a thousand Schemes,
Still God and Self will be the two Extremes!
In Him the one true Good of it is found;
In Self, of all Idolatry the Ground.
False Worship, paid at all its various Shrines,
One same Departure from His Love defines.

II

By Love to Him blest Angels kept their State;
Which the Apostate lost by cursèd Hate;
Setting up Self in the Almighty's Room,
It sunk them down into its dreadful Gloom.
On Separation from His Love, the Source
Of all Felicity was lost, of Course.

III

By Love to Him the first created Man
Was highly blest till Selfishness began
Thro' Serpentine Delusion to arise,
And tempt above God's Wisdom to be wise.
When he had chosen to prefer his own,
The naked, miserable Self was known.

380

IV

Hence we inherit such a Life as this,
Dead of itself to Paradisic Bliss;
Hence, all our Hopes of a Diviner Birth
Depend on Christ and His Descent on Earth;
Subduing Self, as Adam should have done,
And loving God thro' His Belovèd Son;—

V

The Mediator betwixt God and Men,
Who brings their Nature back to Him again,
Sav'd from all sinful Self, or deadly Wrath,
Or hellish Evil, by the Pow'r of Faith
Working by Love, of which It is the Strength,
And must attain the Full, True Life at Length.

VI

Born of this Holy Virgin-Seed Divine
To a new Life within this mortal Shrine,
The faithful breathe a Spirit from above,
And make of Self a Sacrifice to Love.
By Christ redeem'd, they rise from Adam's Fall,
From Earth to Heav'n, where God is All in All.

ON THE CAUSE, CONSEQUENCE AND CURE OF SPIRITUAL PRIDE.

381

I

Suppose an Heater burning in the Fire
To be alive, to will and to desire,
To reason, feel and have upon the whole
What we will call “an understanding Soul,”—
Conscious of pow'rful Heat within its Mould,
And Colour bright above the burnish'd Gold!

II

Suppose that Pride should catch this Heater's Heart,
And from the Fire pursuade it to depart;
To show itself, and make it to be known
That it can raise a Splendour of its own,—
An own rich Colour, an own potent Heat,
Without Dependence on the Fire complete!

III

It leaves, in Prospect of so fine a Show,
The fiery Bosom where it learnt to glow;
Cools by Degrees, till all its golden Hue
Is vanish'd, and its Pow'r of heating too.
Its own, once hidden, Nature domineers,
And the dark, cold, self-iron Lump appears.

382

IV

Transfer this feign'd, imaginary Pride
To that which really does too oft betide,
When human Souls, endued with Grace Divine,
Become ambitious of themselves to shine,
And, proud of Qualities which Grace bestows,
Forsake Its Bosom for self-shining Shows;

V

And thence conceive the natural Effects
Of Pride in either single Men or Sects,
That for Variety of selfish Strife
Forsake the One, True Cause of all true Life,—
The Heav'nly Spirit-fire of Love, within
Whose Sacred Bosom all their Gifts begin;

VI

From which, if Reason, Learning, Wit, or Parts,
Tempt their Ambition to withdraw their Hearts,
There must ensue, whatever they may mean,
The Disappearance of the glowing Scene,
From the most gifted vanishing of Course,
When dis-united from its Real Source!

VII

As only Fire can possibly restore
The Heater's Force to what it was before;
So That of Love alone consumes the Dross
Of wrathful Nature, and repairs its Loss;
It will again unite with all Desire,
That casts itself into the Holy Fire.

383

THE BEGGAR AND THE DIVINE.

384

In some good Books one reads of a Divine
Whose memorable Case deserves a Line;
Who, to serve God the best and shortest Way,
Pray'd for eight Years together every Day,
That in the Midst of Doctrines and of Rules,
However taught and practis'd by the Schools,
He would be pleas'd to bring him to a Man
Prepar'd to teach him the compendious Plan.

He was himself a Doctor, and well-read
In all the Points to which Divines were bred.
Nevertheless, he thought, that what concern'd
The most illiterate as well as learn'd

385

To know and practise, must be something still
More independent on such kind of Skill;
True Christian Worship had within its Root
Some simpler Secret, clear of all Dispute;
Which, by a living Proof that he might know,
He pray'd for some Practitioner to show.

One Day, possess'd with an intense Concern
About the Lesson which he sought to learn,
He heard a Voice that sounded in his Ears:
“Thou has been praying for a Man eight Years;
Go to the Porch of yonder Church, and find
A Man prepar'd according to thy Mind.”

Away he went to the appointed Ground;
When at the Entrance of the Church he found
A poor old Beggar, with his Feet full sore
And not worth Two-pence all the Clothes he wore.
Surpris'd to see an Object so forlorn,
‘My Friend,’ said he, ‘I wish thee a good Morn.’
“Thank thee,” replied the Beggar, “but a bad
I don't remember that I ever had.”
‘Sure, he mistakes,’ the Doctor thought, ‘the Phrase;
Good Fortune, Friend, befall thee all thy Days!’
“Me, said the Beggar, many Days befall,
But none of them unfortunate at all.”
‘God bless thee; answer plainly, I request.’
“Why, plainly then, I never was unblest.”

386

‘Never? Thou speakest in a mystic Strain,
Which more at large I wish thee to explain.’—

“With all my Heart.—Thou first did condescend
To wish me kindly a good Morning, Friend;
And I replied, that I remember'd not
A bad one ever to have been my Lot.
For, let the Morning turn out how it will,
I praise my God for ev'ry new one still.
If I am pinch'd with Hunger or with Cold,
It does not make me to let go my Hold.
Still I praise God; Hail, Rain, or Snow, I take
This blessèd Cordial, which has Pow'r to make
The foulest Morning to my Thinking fair;
For Cold and Hunger yield to Praise and Pray'r.
Men pity me as wretched, or despise;
But whilst I hold this noble Exercise,
It cheers my Heart to such a due Degree,
That ev'ry Morning is still good to me.

“Thou didst, moreover, wish me lucky Days,
And I, by reason of continual Praise,
Said that I had none else; for, come what would
On any Day, I knew it must be good,
Because God sent it; Sweet or Bitter, Joy
Or Grief, by this Angelical Employ
Of praising Him my Heart was at its Rest,
And took whatever happen'd for the best;
So that my own Experience might say,
It never knew of an unlucky Day.

387

“Then didst thou pray, ‘God bless thee,’ and I said
I never was unblest. For, being led
By the Good Spirit of Imparted Grace
To praise His Name, and ever to embrace
His Righteous Will, regarding That Alone
With total Resignation of my own,
I never could in such a State as this
Complain for want of Happiness or Bliss,—
Resolv'd in all Things that the Will Divine,
The Source of all true Blessing, should be mine.”

The Doctor, learning from the Beggar's Case
Such wond'rous Instance of the Pow'r of Grace,
Propos'd a Question, with Intent to try
The happy Mendicant's direct Reply:
‘What wouldst thou say,’ said he, ‘should God think fit
To cast thee down to the infernal Pit?’

“He cast me down? He send me into Hell?
No! He loves me, and I love Him too well.
But put the Case He should, I have two Arms
That will defend me from all hellish Harms,—
The one, Humility; the other, Love.
These I would throw below Him, and above;
One under His Humanity I'd place,
His Deity the other should embrace;
With both together so to hold Him fast,
That I should go wherever He would cast;—
And then, whatever thou shalt call the Sphere,—
Hell, if thou wilt,—'tis Heav'n if He be there.”

388

Thus was a great Divine, whom some have thought
To be the justly-fam'd Taulerus, taught
The Holy Art,—for which he us'd to pray;
That to serve God the most compendious Way
Was to hold fast a loving, humble Mind,
Still praising Him and to His Will resign'd.

FRAGMENT OF AN HYMN ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD.

I

O goodness of God, more exceedingly great
Than Thought can conceive, or than Words can repeat!
Whatsoever we fix our Conceptions upon,
It has some Kind of Bounds, but Thy Goodness has none.
As It never began, so It never can end,
But to all Thy Creation will always extend;
All Nature partakes of its proper Degree,
But the Self-blinded Will that refuses to see.

II

Whensoever new Forms of Creation began,
Thy Goodness adjusted the Beautiful Plan;

389

Adjusted the Beauties of Body and Soul,
And plac'd in the Centre the Good of the whole,
That shone like a Sun the Circumference round,
To produce all the Fruits of Beatified Ground;
To display in each possible Shape and Degree
A Goodness Eternal, Essential to Thee.

III

Blest Orders of Angels surrounded thy Throne,
Before any Evil was heard of or known;
Till a Self-seeking Chief's unaccountable Pride
Thine Immutable Rectitude falsely belied;
And, despising the Goodness that made him so bright,
Would become independent and be his own Light,
And induc'd all his Host to so monstrous a Thing
As to act against Nature's Omnipotent King.

IV

Then did Evil begin, or the Absence of Good,
Which from Thee could not come,—from a Creature it could,
Who, made in thy Likeness, all happy and free,
Could only be good as an Image of Thee.
When an Angel profan'd his angelical Trust,
And departed from Order, most Righteous and Just,

390

Self-depriv'd of the Light, that proceeds from Thy Throne,
He fell to the Darkness, by Nature his own.

V

For Nature itself is a Darkness express,
If a Splendour from Thee does not fill it and bless,—
An Abyss of the Pow'rs of all creaturely Life,
Which are in themselves but an impotent Strife
Of Action, Re-action and Whirling around,
Till the Rays of Thy Light pierce the jarring Profound;
Till Thy Goodness compose the dark, natural Storm,
And enkindle the Bliss of Light, Order, and Form.

VI

Thy Unchangeable Goodness, when Wrath was begun,
Soon as e'er It beheld what an Angel had done,
Exerted Itself in restoring anew
A Celestial Abode and Inhabitants too;
Made a temporal World in the desolate Place,
And Thy Likeness, a Man, to produce a new Race;
That the Evil brought forth might in Time be supprest,
And a new Host of Creatures succeed to be blest.

VII

When the Man, whom Thy Counsel design'd to have stood,
Fell into this Mixture of Evil and Good,
And, against Thy Kind Warning, consented to taste
Of the Fruit that would lay his own Paradise waste:
Thy Mercy then sought his Redemption from Sin,
And implanted the Hope of a Saviour within,—

391

Of a Man to be born, in the Fulness of Time,
To supply his Defect and abolish his Crime.

VIII

All the Hopes of good Men, since the Ruin began,
Were deriv'd from the Grace of This Wonderful Man.
His Life, in the Promise, has secretly wrought
Its Intended Effect in their penitent Thought,
Who believ'd in Thy Word, in whatever Degree
They knew, or knew not, how His coming would be.
A true Faith in a Saviour was one and the same,
Both before His Blest Coming, as after He came.

IX

Patriarchal, Mosaic, prophetical Views,
The Desire of all Nations, or Gentiles or Jews,
Who obey'd in the midst of their natural Fall
The Degree of His Light Which enlighten'd them all,
Still centred in Him, the Messiah, the Man
Who should execute fully Thy Merciful Plan;
And impart the True Life, which Thy Goodness design'd
By creating a Man to descend to Mankind.

X

When This Son of Thy Love was Incarnate on Earth,
And the Word was made Flesh by a Virginal Birth,
The Angelical Host usher'd in the great Morn,
With the Tidings of Joy that a Saviour was born,—

392

Of Joy to all People who round the whole Ball
Should partake of the Goodness That came to save all;
To erect, upon Earth, a true Kingdom of Grace,
And of Glory to come, for whoe'er would embrace.

UNIVERSAL GOOD THE OBJECT OF THE DIVINE WILL, AND EVIL THE NECESSARY EFFECT OF THE CREATURE'S OPPOSITION TO IT.

I

The God of Love, delighting to bestow,
Sends down His Blessing to the World below;
A grateful Mind receives it, and above
Sends up Thanksgiving to the God of Love.
This happy Intercourse could never fail,
Did not a false, perverted Will prevail.

393

II

For Love Divine, as rightly understood,
Is an Unalterable Will to Good,—
Good in the Object of His Blessèd Will,
Who never can concur to real Ill;
Much less “decree, predestinate, ordain,”—
Words oft employ'd to take His Name in vain.

III

“But He permits it to be done,” say you;—
Plain, then, I answer, that He does not do;
That, having will'd created Angels free,
He still permits or wills them so to be.
Were his Permission ask'd before they did
An evil Action, He would soon forbid.

IV

Before the Doing He forbids indeed,
But disobedient Creatures take no heed.
If He, according to your present Plea,
Withdraws his Grace, and so they disobey,
The Fault is laid on Him, not them at all;
For who can stand whom He shall thus let fall?

V

Our own Neglect must be the previous Cause,
When it is said, “the Grace of God withdraws;”—
In the same Sense as when the brightest Dawn,
If we will shut our Windows, is withdrawn;
Not that the Sun is ever the less bright,
But that our Choice is not to see the Light.

394

VI

Free to receive the Grace, or to reject,
Receivers only can be God's elect;
Rejecters of it reprobate alone
Not by Divine Decree, but by their own.
His Love to all, His Willing none to sin,
Is a Decree that never could begin.

VII

It is the Order, the Eternal Law,
The True Free Grace, that never can withdraw.
Observance of it will of course be blest,
And Opposition to it self-distrest;
“To them who love its gracious Author, all
Will work for Good,” according to St. Paul.

VIII

An easy Key to each abstruser Text
That modern Disputants have so perplext
With arbitrary Fancies on each Side,
From God's Pure Love or Man's Freewill denied;
Which in the Breast of Saints, and Sinners too,
May both be found self-evidently true!

395

ON THE DISINTERESTED LOVE OF GOD.

396

I

The Love of God with Genuine Ray
Inflamed the Breast of good Cambray,
And banish'd from the Prelate's Mind
All Thoughts of interested Kind.
He saw, and Writers of his Class
(Of too neglected Worth, alas!)
Disinterested Love to be
The Gospel's very A. B. C.

II

When our Redeeming Lord began
To practise It Himself as Man,
And for the Joy then set before
His Loving View such Evils bore,
Endur'd the Cross, despis'd the shame,—
Had He an interested Aim?
Surely the least Examination
Shows that the Joy was our Salvation.

397

III

For us He suffer'd, to make known
The Love That seeketh not Its Own,—
Suffer'd what nothing but so Pure
A Love could possibly endure.
No less a Sacrifice than this
Could bring poor Sinners back to Bliss,
Or execute the Saving Plan
Of reuniting God and Man.

IV

This Love was Abram's Shield and Guard,
Was his exceeding great Reward;
This Love the patriarchal Eye
And that of Moses could descry;
In this disinterested Sense
They sought Reward or Recompense,
City or Country, Heav'n Above,
The Seat of Purity and Love.

V

This the High Calling, this the Prize,
The Mark of Paul's so steady Eyes;
For, with the self-forgetting Paul,
Pure Love of God in Christ was all.

398

The Text of the belovèd John
Has all, that Words can say, in one;
For “God is Love,”—compendious Whole
Of all the Blessings of a Soul!

VI

What Helps to this a Soul may want,
Pure Love is ready still to grant,
But with a View to wean it still
From selfish, mercenary Will.
Of all Reward, all Punishment,
This is the End in God's Intent:
To form in Offsprings of His Own
The Bliss of loving His Alone.

VII

Sole Rule of all Affection due
Both to ourselves and others too;
Meaning of ev'ry Scripture Text,
By interested Love perplext;
Promise or Precept, Gospel Call
Or legal Love, fulfils them all,—
From Base arising up to Spire,
Superior both to Fear and Hire.

VIII

Love of Disinterested Kind,—
The Man who thinks It too refin'd

399

May by ambiguous Language still
Persist in metaphysic Skill.
Even the justly-fam'd Cambray
In such a Case could only pray,
That Love Itself would only dart
Some feeling Proof into his Heart.

ON THE SAME SUBJECT.

I

I love my God, and freely too,
With the Same Love that He imparts,—
That He to Whom all Love is due
Engraves upon pure, loving Hearts.

II

I love; but this Celestial Fire,
Ye starry Pow'rs, Ye do not raise;
No Wages, no Reward's Desire,
Is in the purely shining Blaze.

III

Me nor the Hopes of heav'nly Bliss
Or Paradisic Scenes excite;
Nor Terrors of the dark Abyss,—
Of Death's eternal Den,—affright.

IV

No bought and paid-for Love be mine;
I will have no Demands to make;

400

Disinterested and Divine
Alone that Fear shall never shake.

V

Thou, my Redeemer from Above,
Suff'ring to such immense Degree,
Thy Heart has kindled mine to Love,
That burns for Nothing but for Thee;

VI

Thy Scourge, Thy Thorns, Thy Cross, Thy Wounds—
And ev'ry one of them a Source
From whence the Nourishment abounds
Of Endless Love's Unfading Force.

VII

These Sacred Fires with Holy Breath
Raise in my Mind the gen'rous Strife;
While, by the Ensigns of Thy Death
Known, I adore the Lord of Life.

VIII

Extinguish all Celestial Light,
The Fire of Love will not go out;
The Flames of Hell extinguish quite,
Love will pursue Its wonted Route!

IX

Be there no Hope, if It persist,
Persist It will, nor ever cease;

401

No Punishment, if 'tis dismissed,
What caus'd It not will not decrease.

X

Should'st Thou give Nothing for Its Pains,
It claims not anything as due;
Should'st Thou condemn me, it remains
Unchang'd by any selfish View.

XI

Let Heav'n be darken'd, if It will,—
Let Hell with all its Vengeance roar,—
My God Alone remaining, still
I'll love Him, as I did before.

ON THE MEANING OF THE WORD “WRATH,” AS APPLIED TO GOD IN SCRIPTURE.

403

I

That “God is Love,” is in the Scripture said;
That He is Wrath, is nowhere to be read;
From which by literal Expression free
“Fury,” He saith Himself, “is not in me.”
If Scripture, therefore, must direct our Faith,
Love must be He or in Him, and not Wrath.

II

And yet the Wrath of God in Scripture Phrase
Is oft express'd, and many diff'rent Ways:
His “Anger,” “Fury,” “Vengeance,” are the Terms
Which the plain Letter of the Text affirms;
And plain, from two of the Apostle's Quire,
That “God is Love,”—and “a consuming Fire.”

404

III

If we consult the Reasons that appear
To make the seeming Difficulty clear,
We must acknowledge, when we look Above,
That God, as God, is Overflowing Love;
And wilful Sinners, when we look below,
Make what is call'd the Wrath of God to flow.

IV

“Wrath,” as St. Paul saith, “is the treasur'd Part
Of an impenitently harden'd Heart.”
When Love reveals Its Own Eternal Life,
Then Wrath and Anguish fall on evil Strife,—
Then Lovely Justice, in Itself all Bright,
Is Burning Fire to such as hate the Light.

V

If Wrath and Justice be indeed the same,
No Wrath in God is liable to blame.
If not,—if righteous Judges may, and must,
Be free Themselves from Wrath, if they be just,—
Such Kind of Blaming may with equal Sense
Lay on a Judge the Criminal's Offence.

VI

God, in Himself Unchangeable, in fine
Is One Eternal Light of Love Divine.

405

“In Him there is no Darkness,” saith St. John;
In Him no Wrath,—the Meaning is all one.
'Tis our own Darkness, Wrath, Sin, Death and Hell,
Not to love Him Who first lov'd us so well.

THE FOREGOING SUBJECT MORE FULLY ILLUSTRATED, IN A COMMENT ON THE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever-lasting life.” —St. John, iii. 16.

I

“ God so loved the World.”—By how tender a Phrase
The Design of His Father our Saviour displays!
Love, according to Him, when the World was undone,
Was the Father's sole Reason for giving His Son.
No Wrath in the Giver had Christ to atone,
But to save a poor perishing World from its own.

406

A Belief in the Son carries with it a Faith,
That the Motive Paternal was Love, and not Wrath.

II

“Ev'ry good, perfect Gift cometh down from above,
From the Father of Lights,” thro' the Son of His Love.
As in Him there is “no Variation or Change,”
Neither “Shadow of turning,”—it well may seem strange
That, when Scripture assures us so plainly that He,
His will, Grace, or Gift, is so perfectly Free,
Any Word should be strain'd to incúlcate a Thought
Of a Wrath in His Mind, or a Change to be wrought.

III

All Wrath is the Product of creaturely Sin.
In Immutable Love it could never begin;—
Nor, indeed, in a Creature, till opposite Will
To the Love of its God had brought forth such an Ill,—
To the Love That was pleas'd to communicate Bliss
In such endless Degrees thro' all Nature's Abyss.
Nor could Wrath have been known, had not Man left the State
In which Nature's God was pleas'd Man to create.

IV

He saw, when this World in its Purity stood,
Ev'ry Thing He had made, and, “behold, it was good;”
And the Man, its one Ruler, before his sad Fall,
As the Image of God had the Goodness of All.
When he fell, and awaken'd Wrath, Evil and Curse
In himself and the World, was God become worse,

407

Who so lov'd the World still that, when Wrath was begun,
To redeem the lost Creature, He gave His own Son?—

V

Freely gave Him,—not mov'd or incited thereto
By a previous “appeasing,” or payment of Due
To his “Wrath,” or His “Vengeance,” or any such Cause
As should satisfy Him for the Breach of His Laws.
This Language the Jew Nicodemus might use,
But our Saviour's to him had more Excellent Views:
“God so lovèd the World,” (are His Words) “that He gave
“His Only-Begotten” in order to save.

VI

Love's prior, unpurchas'd, unpaid-for Intent
Was the Cause why the Only-Begotten was sent,
That thro' Him we might live; and the Cause why He came
Was to manifest Love, ever One and the Same,—
Full Conquest of Wrath ever striving to make,
And blotting Transgressions out for Its own sake;
Wanting no Satisfaction itself but to give
Itself, that the World might receive It and live;—

VII

Might believe on the Son, and receive a new Birth
From the Love That in Christ was Incarnate on Earth,
When a Virgin brought forth, without help of a Man,
The Restorer of God's True, Original Plan,—
The One Quencher of Wrath, the Atoner of Sin,
And the “Bringer of Justice and Righteousness in;”

408

The Renewer in Man of a Pow'r and a Will
To satisfy Justice,—that is, to fulfil.

VIII

There is nothing that Justice and Righteousness hath
More opposite to it than Anger and Wrath,—
As repugnant to all that is equal and right,
As Falsehood to Truth, or as Darkness to Light.
Of God in Himself what the Scripture affirms
Is “Truth,” “Light,” and “Love,”—plain significant Terms.
In His Deity, therefore, there cannot befall
Any Falsehood, or Darkness, or Hatred at all.

IX

Such Defect can be found in that Creature alone
Which against His Good Will seeks to set up its own.
Then, to God and His Justice it giveth the Lie,
And its Darkness and Wrath are discover'd thereby.
What before was subservient to Life in due Place,
Then usurps the Dominion, and Death is the Case;
Which the Son of God only could ever subdue
By doing all that which Love gave Him to do.

X

If “the Anger of God,” “Fury,” “Wrath, waxing hot,”
And the like human Phrases that Scripture has got,

409

Be insisted upon, why not also the rest,
Where God in the Language of Men is exprest
In a Manner which all are oblig'd to confess,
No Defect in His Nature can mean to express?
With a God Who is Love ev'ry Word should agree,—
With a God Who hath said, “Fury is not in Me.”

XI

The Disorders in Nature,—for none are in God,—
Are entitled “His Vengeance,” “His Wrath,” or “His Rod;”
Like “His Ice,” or “His Frost,” “His Plague, Famine, or Sword,”
That the Love Which directs them may still be ador'd;—
Directs them, till Justice, call'd His or call'd ours,
Shall regain, to our Comfort, Its Primitive Pow'rs,—
The True, Saving Justice, that bids us endure
What Love shall prescribe for effecting our Cure.

XII

By a Process of Love from the Crib to the Cross
Did the Only-Begotten recover our Loss,
And show in us Men how the Father is pleas'd,
When the Wrath in our Nature by Love is appeas'd;—

410

When the Birth of His Christ, being formèd within,
Dissolves the dark Death of all Self-hood and Sin;
Till the Love That so lov'd us becomes once again,
From the Father and Son, a Life-Spirit in Men.

THE TRUE GROUNDS OF ETERNAL AND IMMUTABLE RECTITUDE.

I

Th' Eternal Mind, ev'n Heathens understood,
Was Infinitely Pow'rful, Wise, and Good.
In their Conceptions, who conceiv'd aright,
These Three Essential Attributes unite.
They saw that, wanting any of the Three,
Such an All-perfect Being could not be.

411

II

For Pow'r from Wisdom suff'ring a Divorce
Would be a foolish, mad and frantic Force.
If Both were join'd, and wanted Goodness still,
They would concur to more pernicious Ill;
However nam'd, their Action could but tend
To Weakness, Folly, Mischief without End.

III

Yet some of old, and some of present Hour,
Ascribe to God an arbitrary Pow'r,
An absolute Decree, a mere Command,
Which Nothing causes, Nothing can withstand;
Wisdom and Goodness scarce appear in Sight;
But all is measur'd by resistless Might.

IV

The verbal Question comes to this, in fine:
“Is Good or Evil made by Will Divine,
Or such by Nature? Does Command enact
What shall be right, and then 'tis so in Fact?
Or is it right, and therefore we may draw
From thence the Reason of the Righteous Law?”

V

Now, tho' 'tis Proof indisputably plain,
That all is right which God shall once ordain,—

412

Yet, if a Thought shall intervene between
Things and Commands, 'tis evidently seen
That Good will be commanded. Men divide
Nature and Laws, which really coincide.

VI

From the Divine, Eternal Spirit springs
Order and Rule and Rectitude of Things,
Thro' outward Nature, His Apparent Throne,
Visibly seen, intelligibly known,—
Proofs of a Boundless Pow'r, a Wisdom's Aid,
By Goodness us'd, Eternal and Unmade.

VII

Cudworth perceiv'd that what Divines advance
For Sov'reignty alone is Fate, or Chance,—
Fate, after Pow'r had made its forcing Laws;
And Chance before, if made without a Cause.
Nothing stands firm or certain in a State
Of fatal Chance or accidental Fate.

413

VIII

Endless Perfections after all conspire,
And to adore excite and to admire;
But to plain Minds the Plainest Pow'r Above
Is Native Goodness to attract our Love;
Centre of all Its various Pow'r and Skill
Is One Divine, Immutable Good Will.

ON THE NATURE AND REASON OF ALL OUTWARD LAW.

“The Sabbath was made for Man; not Man for the Sabbath.” —St. Mark, ii. 27.

I

From this true Saying one may learn to draw
The real Nature of all outward Law.
In ev'ry Instance, rightly understood,
Its Ground and Reason is the human Good;
By all its Changes, since the World began,
Man was not made for Law, but Law for Man.

II

“Thou shalt not eat,”—the first Command of all—
“Of Good and Ill,” was to prevent his Fall.

414

When he became unfit to be alone,
Woman was form'd out of his Flesh and Bone.
When both had sinn'd, then Penitential Grief
And sweating Labour was the Law Relief.

III

When all the World had sinn'd, save one good Sire,
Flood was the Law that sav'd its Orb from Fire;
When Fire itself upon a Sodom fell,
It was the Law to stop a growing Hell;
So on,—the Law with Riches or with Rods,
Come as it will, is Good; for it is God's.

IV

Men who observe a Law, or who abuse
For selfish Pow'r, are blind as any Jews;
On Sabbath, constru'd by rabbinic Will,
God must not save, and Men must seek to kill.
Such Zeal for Law has pharisaic Faith,
Not as 'tis good, but as it worketh Wrath.

V

Jesus, the Perfect Law-fulfiller, gave
The Victory that taught the Law to save;
Pluck'd out its Sting, revers'd the cruel Cry:
“We have a Law by which He ought to die.”

415

Dying for Man, this Conquest He could give:
“I have a Law by which he ought to live.”

VI

Whilst in the Flesh, how oft did He reveal
His Saving Will, and God-like Pow'r to heal!
They whom Defect, Disease or Fiend possess'd,
And pardon'd Sinners, by his Word had Rest;
He, on the Sabbath, chose to heal and teach,
And Law-proud Jews to slay him for its Breach.

VII

The Sabbath, never so well kept before,
May justify one Observation more.
Our Saviour heal'd, as pious Authors say,
So many Sick upon the Sabbath-Day,
To shew that Rest and Quietness of Soul
Is best for one who wants to be made whole;—

VIII

Not to indulge an Eagerness too great
Of outward Hurry or of inward Heat;
But, with an humble Temper and resign'd,
To keep a Sabbath in a hopeful Mind,
In Peace and Patience meekly to endure,
Till the Good Saviour's Hour is come,—to cure.

DIVINE LOVE, THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTIC OF TRUE RELIGION.

416

I

Religion's Meaning when I would recall,
Love is to me the plainest Word of all.
Plainest,—because that what I love, or hate,
Shews me directly my internal State;
By its own Consciousness is best defin'd
Which way the Heart within me stands inclin'd.

II

On what it lets its Inclination rest,
To that its real Worship is address'd;
Whatever Forms or Ceremonies spring
From Custom's Force, there lies the real Thing;
Jew, Turk or Christian be the Lover's Name,
If same the Love, Religion is the same.

III

Of all Religions if we take a View,
There is but one that ever can be true,—

417

One God, One Christ, One Spirit, none but He.
All else is Idol, whatsoe'er it be,—
A Good that our Imaginations make,
Unless we love it purely for His Sake.

IV

Nothing but gross Idolatry alone
Can ever love it merely for its own.
It may be good, that is, may make appear
So much of God's One Goodness to be clear;
Thereby to raise a true, religious Soul
To Love of Him, the One Eternal Whole;—

V

The One Unbounded, Undivided Good,
By all His Creatures partly understood.
If therefore Sense of its apparent Parts
Raise not His Love or Worship in our Hearts,
Our selfish Wills or Notions we may feast,
And have no more Religion than a Beast.

VI

For brutal Instinct can a Good embrace
That leaves behind it no reflecting Trace;
But thinking Man, whatever be his Theme,
Should worship Goodness in the Great Supreme;
By inward Faith, more sure than outward Sight,
Should eye the Source of all that's Good and Right.

VII

Religion, then, is Love's Celestial Force
That penetrates thro' all to Its True Source;

418

Loves all along, but with proportion'd Bent,
As Creatures further the Divine Ascent,
Not to the Skies or Stars, but to the part
That will be always uppermost,—the Heart,

VIII

There is the Seat, as Holy Writings tell,
Where the Most High Himself delights to dwell;
Whither attracting the desirous Will
To its true Rest, He saves it from all Ill,
Gives it to find in His Abyssal Love
An Heav'n within,—in other Words, Above.

ON WORKS OF MERCY AND COMPASSION, CONSIDERED AS THE PROOFS OF TRUE RELIGION.

419

I

Of true Religion Works of Mercy seem
To be the plainest Proof in Christ's Esteem;
Who has Himself declar'd what He will say
To all the Nations at the Judgment Day:
“Come,” or “Depart,” is the predicted Lot
Of brotherly Compassion shown, or not.

II

Then, they who gave poor hungry People Meat,
And Drink to quench the thirsty Suff'rer's Heat;
Who welcom'd in the Stranger at the Door,
And with a Garment clothed the naked Poor;
Who visited the Sick to ease their Grief,
And went to Pris'ners, or bestow'd Relief:—

III

These will be deem'd religious Men, to whom
Will sound: “Ye blessèd of my Father, come,
Inherit ye the Kingdom, and partake
Of all the Glories founded for your Sake;
Your Love for others I was pleas'd to see,
What you have done to them was done to Me!”

IV

Then, they who gave the hungry Poor no Food;
Who with no Drink the parch'd with Thrift bedew'd;
Who drove the helpless Stranger from their Fold,
And let the Naked perish in the Cold;
Who to the Sick no friendly Visit paid,
Nor gave to Pris'ners any needful Aid;—

420

V

These will be deem'd of irreligious Mind;
And hear the: “Go, ye Men of cursèd Kind;
To endless Woes, which ev'ry harden'd Heart
For its own Treasure has prepar'd, depart;
Shown to a Brother of the least Degree,
Your merciless Behaviour was to Me!”

VI

Here, all ye learnèd, full of all Dispute,
Of true and false Religion lies the Root.
The Mind of Christ, when He became a Man,
With all Its Tempers, forms its real Plan,
The Sheep from Goats distinguishing full well;—
His Love is Heav'n, and Want of It is Hell.

THE SOUL'S TENDENCY TOWARDS ITS TRUE CENTRE.

421

I

Stones towards the Earth descend;
Rivers to the Ocean roll;
Ev'ry Motion has some End;—
What is thine, belovèd Soul?

II

“Mine is, where my Saviour is;
There with Him I hope to dwell.
Jesus is the Central Bliss,
Love the Force That doth impel.”

III

Truly, thou hast answer'd right.
Now, may Heav'ns Attractive Grace
Tow'rds the Source of thy Delight
Speed along thy quick'ning Pace!

IV

“Thank thee for thy gen'rous Care!
Heav'n That did the Wish inspire
Through thy instrumental Prayer
Plumes the Wings of my Desire.

422

V

“Now, methinks, aloft I fly;
Now, with Angels bear a Part.
Glory be to God on High,
Peace to ev'ry Christian Heart!”

A PARAPHRASE ON THE PRAYER USED IN THE CHURCH LITURGY “FOR ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN.”

423

I

It will bear the repeating again and again,
Will the Pray'r for all Sorts and Conditions of Men;
Not to this or that Place, Name or Nation confin'd,
But embracing, at once, the whole Race of Mankind;
With a Love Universal instructing to call
On the One Great Creating Preserver of All:
That His Way may be known upon Earth, and be found
His true saving Health by the Nations all round!

II

He Who willeth all Men to be sav'd, and partake
Of the Bliss which distinguish'd their primitive Make,—
To arise to that Life, by a second new Birth,
Which Adam had lost at his Fall upon Earth,—
Will accept ev'ry Heart, whose unfeignèd Intent
Is to pray for that Blessing, which He Himself meant,

424

When He gave His own Son for whoever should will
To escape, by His Means, from the Regions of Ill.

III

But tho' all the whole World, in a Sense that is good,
To be God's House or Church may be well understood,
And the Men who dwell on it His Children, for whom
It has pleas'd Him that Christ the Redeemer should come,—
Yet His Church must consist, in all saving Respect,
Of them who receive Him, not them who reject;
And His true, real Children, or People, are they
Who, when call'd by the Saviour, believe and obey.

IV

Now this excellent Pray'r, in this Sense of the Phrase,
For the Catholic Church more especially prays:
That it may be so constantly govern'd and led
By the Spirit of God, and of Jesus its Head,
That all such as are taught to acknowledge its Creed
And profess to be Christians, may be so indeed;
May hold the one Faith in a Peace without Strife,
And the Proof of its Truth a right practical Life.

V

No partial Distinction is here to be sought;
For the Good of Mankind still enlivens the Thought.
Since God by the Church, in its Catholic Sense,
Salvation to all is so pleas'd to dispense,
That the further her Faith and her Patience increase,
More Hearts will be won to the Gospel of Peace;
Till the World shall come under Truth's absolute Sway,
And the Nations, converted, bring on the great Day.

425

VI

Meanwhile, tho' Eternity be her chief Care,
The Suff'rers in Time have a suitable Share;
She prays to the Fatherly Goodness of God
For all whom Affliction has under its Rod;
That, inward or outward the Cause of their Grief,—
Mind, Body, Estate,—He would grant them Relief,
Due Comfort and Patience, and finally bless
With the most happy Ending of all their Distress.

VII

The Compassion here taught is unlimited too,
And the Whole of Mankind the petitioning View.
As none can foresee, whether Christian or not,
What Afflictions may fall in this World to his Lot;
The Church, which considers Whose Providence sends,
Prays that all may obtain Its Beneficent Ends
And, whenever the Suff'rings here needful are past,
By Repentance and Faith may be sav'd at the last.

VIII

The particular Mention of such as desire
To be publicly pray'd for, as made in our Quire,
Infers to all others God's Merciful Grace.
Tho' we hear not their Names, who are in the like Case,
It excites our Attention to Instances known
Of Relations, or Neighbours, or Friends of our own;
For the Pray'r in its Nature extends to all those,
Who are in the same Trouble, Friends to Us or Foes.

426

IX

All which she entreats, for His Sake, to be done,
Who suffer'd to save them, Christ Jesus, His Son,—
In respect to the World, the Redeemer of All;
“To the Church of the Faithful, most chiefly,” saith Paul;
And to them who shall suffer, whoever they be,
In the Spirit of Christ, in the highest Degree.
How ought such a Goodness all Minds to prepare
For an hearty “Amen” to this Catholic Pray'r!

X

The Church is indeed, in its real Intent,
An Assembly where Nothing but Friendship is meant;
And the utter Extinction of Foeship and Wrath
By the Working of Love in the Strength of its Faith.
This gives it its holy and catholic Name,
And truly confirms its apóstolic Claim;
Showing what the One Saviour's One Mission had been:
“Go and teach all the World,”—ev'ry Creature therein.

XI

In the Praise ever due to the Gospel of Grace
Its Universality holds the first Place.

427

When an Angel proclaim'd Its glad Tidings the Morn
That the Son of the Virgin, the Saviour, was born,
“Which shall be to all People,” was said to complete
The angelical Message, so good and so great,
Full of “Glory to God,” in the Regions Above,
And of “Goodness to Men,” is so Boundless a Love.

XII

This short Supplication, or Litany, read
When the longer with us is not wont to be said,
Tho' brief in Expression, as fully imports
The Will to all Blessings, for “Men of all Sorts,”—
Same brotherly Love, by which Christians are taught
To “pray without ceasing,” or limiting Thought;
That Religion may flourish upon its true Plan
Of Glory to God and Salvation to Man.

THE PRAYER OF RUSBROCHIUS.

430

I

O merciful Lord! by the Good Which Thou art
I beseech Thee to raise a true Love in my Heart
For Thee, above all Things, Thee only,—and then
To extend to all Sorts and Conditions of Men;—
Religious or secular, Kindred or not,
Or near or far off, or whatever their Lot;
That be any Man's State rich or poor, high or low,
As myself I may love him, Friend tó me or Foe;

II

May pay to all Men a becoming Respect,
Not prone to condemn them for seeming Defect;
But to bear it, if true, with a Patience exempt
From the proud, surly Vice of a scornful Contempt.
If shown to myself, let me learn to endure,
And obtain by Its Aid my own Vanity's Cure;
Nor, however disdain'd, in the spitefullest Shape,
By a sinful Return ever think to escape!

III

Let my pure, simple Aim in whatever it be,
Thro' Praise or Dispraise, be my Duty to Thee;
With a fixt Resolution still eyeing that Scope
To admit of no other—Fear be it or Hope,—

431

But the Fear to offend Thee, the Hope to unite
In Thy Honour and Praise with all Hearts that are right;
Wishing all the World well, but intent to fulfil,
Be they pleas'd or displeas'd, Thy Adorable Will!

IV

Preserve me, Dear Lord, from Presumption and Pride,
That upon my own Actions would tempt to confide;
Let me have no Dependence on any but Thine,
With a right Faith and Trust in Thy Merits Divine;
Still ready prepar'd, in each requisite Hour,
Both to will and to work as Thou givest the Pow'r;
But may only Thy Love flame thro' all my whole Heart,
And a false selfish Fire not affect the least Part!

V

To this End let Thine Arrow pierce deeply within,
Letting out all the Filth and Corruption of Sin;
All that in the most secret Recesses may lurk,
To prevent or obstruct Thy Intention or Work!
O give me the Knowledge, the Feeling and Sense
Of Thy All-blessing Pow'r, Wisdom, Goodness Immense,—
Of the Weakness, the Folly, the Malice alone,
That, resisting Thy Will, I should find in my own!

VI

Never let me forget, never, while I draw Breath,
What Thou hast done for me,—Thy Passion and Death;
The Wounds and the Griefs of Thy Body and Soul,
When assuming our Nature Thou madest it Whole;
Taughtest how to engage in Thy Conquering Strife,
And regain the Access to its True Divine Life;

432

Let the Sense of such Love kindle all my Desire,
To be Thine my Life thro', Thine to die and expire!

VII

To Hearts in the Bond of Thy Charity Knit
Ev'ry Thing become easy to do or omit;
The Labour is pleasant, the sharpest Degree
Of Suff'ring can find Consolation in Thee.
That which Nature affords, or an Object terrene,
When it does not divert from a pérfecter Scene,
Is receiv'd with all Thanks, if Thou pleasest to grant,
By a Mind, if Thou pleasest, as willing to want.

VIII

The Amusements on which it once set such a Store,
Are now as insipid as grateful before;
With a much greater Comfort it gives up each Toy
Than the fondest Possessor could ever enjoy.
If e'er I propos'd such unsuitable Ends
To the Thought of religious or secular Friends,
Expel the vain Images, Fancies of Good,
And in their Heart and mine make Thyself understood!

IX

Extinguish, O Lord, let not any one take,
A Complacence in me which is not for Thy Sake;
In me, too, root out the Respect of all Kind
Which does not arise from Thy Love in my Mind;
No Sorrow be spar'd, no Affliction, no Cross,
That may further this Love or recover Its Loss!
This is always Thy Meaning; O let it be mine,
To confess Myself guilty, repent, and resign!

433

X

With a real Contempt of all Sélf-seeking Views.
To embrace for my Choice what Thy Wisdom shall choose;
Looking up still to Thee, to receive all Event
Which It wills or permits, with a thankful Content;
Not regarding what Men shall do tó me, or why,
But the provident Aim of Thine all-seeing Eye;
Ever watchful o'er them who persist, in each Place,
To rely on Its Presence,—O give me Thy Grace!

XI

Tho' unworthy to ask it (poor Sinner!) I trust
In the Merits and Death of a Saviour so just;
Whom the Father, well pleas'd in His Satisfied Will,
The Design to save Sinners saw rightly fulfil.
In me let Thy Grace, O Redeemer within,
Re-establish His Justice and purge away Sin;
That, freed from its Evils, in me may be shown
The Effect of Thy All-saving Merits alone!

XII

May Death, and its Consequence, still in my Eyes
So remind me to live that it may not surprise;
May the horrible Torments excite a due Dread,
Which impenitent Sinners bring on their own Head;
May I never seek Peace, never find a Delight,
But when I pursue what is good in Thy Sight!
Whatsoever I do, suffer, feel to befall,
Be Thou the Sole Cause, the One Reason of all!

434

ON ATTENTION.

Sacred Attention! True effectual Prayer!
Thou dost the Soul for Love of Truth prepare.
Blest is the Man who, from Conjecture free,
To future Knowledge shall aspire by thee;
Who in thy Precepts seeks a sure Repose;
Stays till he sees, nor judges till he knows;—
Tho' firm not rash, tho' eager yet sedate,
Intent on Truth can Its Instruction wait;
Aw'd by thy powerful Influence to appeal
To Heaven, Which only can Itself reveal;
The soul in humble Silence to resign,
And human Will unite to the Divine;
Till, fir'd at length by Heaven's Enlivening Beams,
Pure, unconsum'd the faithful Victim flames!

435

A PRAYER, USED BY FRANCIS THE FIRST, WHEN HE WAS AT WAR WITH THE EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH.

Almighty Lord of Hosts, by Whose Commands
The guardian Angels rule their destin'd Lands,
And watchful at thy Word to save or stay
Of Peace or War administer the Sway!
Thou Who against the great Goliah's Rage
Didst arm the Stripling David to engage,
When with a Sling a small unarmèd Youth
Smote a huge Giant in Defence of Truth,—
Hear us, we pray Thee, if our Cause be true;
If sacred Justice be our only View;

436

If Right and Duty, not the Will to War
Have forc'd our Armies to proceed thus far!
Then, turn the Hearts of all our Foes to Peace,
That War and Bloodshed in the Land may cease;
Or, put to Flight by Providential Dread,
Let them lament their Errors, not their Dead!
If some must die, protect the righteous all,
And let the guilty, few as may be, fall!
With pitying Speed the Victory decree
To them whose Cause is best approv'd by Thee;
That, sheath'd on all Sides the devouring Sword,
And Peace and Justice to our Land restor'd,
We all together with one Heart may sing
Triumphant Hymns to Thee, th' Eternal King!

A COMMENT ON THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE, IN THE GENERAL CONFESSION OF SINS USED IN THE CHURCH-LITURGY: “ACCORDING TO THY PROMISES DECLARED UNTO MANKIND IN CHRIST JESU OUR LORD.”

437

I

“ According to Thy Promises”—Hereby,
Since it is certain that God cannot lie,
The truly Penitent may all be sure
That Grace admits them to Its open Door;
And they, forsaking all their former Sin,
However great, will freely be let in.

II

“Declar'd”—By all the Ministers of Peace
God has assur'd Repentance of Release.

438

An intervening Penitence, we see,
Could even Change His positive Decree,
As in the Ninivites. If any Soul
Repent, the Promise is the sure Parole.

III

“Unto Mankind”—Not only to the Jews,
Christians or Turks in Writings which they use;
Writ on the Tablet of each conscious Heart:
“Repent; from all Iniquity depart!”
Not for no Purpose; for the plain Intent
Is Restoration, if a Soul repent.

IV

“In Christ”—By Whom true Scripture has assur'd
Redeeming Grace for Penitents procur'd.
The fainter Hopes, which Reason may suggest,
Are deeply by the Gospel's Aid imprest.
'Twas always hop'd for, was the Promis'd Good,
But by His Coming clearly understood.

V

“Jesu”—Jehovah's Manifested Love
In Christ, th' Anointed Saviour from Above.

439

The Demonstration of the Saving Plan
For all Mankind is God's becoming Man;
No Truth more firmly ascertain'd than this:
“Repent, be faithful, and restor'd to Bliss!”

VI

“Our Lord”—Our New and True Parental Head,
Our Second Adam, in the first when dead;
Who took our Nature on Him, that in Men
His Father's Image might shine forth again.
Sure of Success may Penitents implore
What God through Him rejoices to restore.

ON CHURCH COMMUNION

In seven Parts; from a Letter of Mr. Law's.

440

PART FIRST.

I

Religion, Church-Communion, or the Way
Of public Worship that we ought to pay,
As it regards the Body and the Mind
Is of external and internal Kind,—

441

The one confiding in the outward Sign,
The other in the Inward Truth Divine.

II

This Inward Truth, intended to be shown
So far as outward Signs can make it known,
Is that which gives external Modes a Worth,
Just in Proportion as they shew it forth,—
Just as they help, in any outward Part,
The real, true Religion of the Heart.

III

Now, what this is, exclusive of all Strife,
Christians will own to be an Inward Life,
Spirit and Pow'r—a Birth, to say the Whole,
Of Christ Himself, brought forth within the Soul;
By this all True Salvation is begun
And carried on, however It be done.

IV

Christianity that has not Christ within,
Can by no Means whatever save from Sin;
Can bear no Evidence of Him, the End
On Which the Value of all Means depend.
Christian Religion signifies, no doubt,
Like Mind within, like Show of it without.

442

V

The Will of God, the Saving of Mankind,
Was all that Christ had in His Inward Mind;
All that produc'd His Outward Action too,
In Church Communion while a perfect Jew,—
Like most of His Disciples, till they came
At Antioch to have a Christian Name.

VI

If Christ has put an End to Rites of old,—
If new recall what was but then foretold,—
The One True Church, the Real Heav'nly Ground
Wherein alone Salvation can be found,
Is still the Same, and to its Saviour's Praise
His Inward Tempers outwardly displays;

VII

By hearty Love and correspondent Rites
Ordain'd, the Members to the Head unites
And to each other. In all stated Scenes
The Life of Christ is what a Christian means;
Tho' Change of Circumstance may alter those,
In This he places and enjoys Repose.

443

VIII

Church Unity is held, and Faith's Increase,
By that “of Spirit, in the Bond of Peace,
And Righteousness of Life;” without this Tie
Forms are in vain prescrib'd to worship by,
Or Temples modell'd; Hearts as well as Hands
An Holy Church and Catholic demands.

PART SECOND.

I

If once establish'd the essential Part,
The Inward Church, the Temple of the Heart
Or House of God, the Substance and the Sum
Of what is pray'd for in “Thy Kingdom come,”—
To make an outward Correspondence true,
We must recur to Christ's Example too.

II

Now, in His Outward Form of Life we find
Goodness demónstrated of ev'ry Kind.

444

What He was born for, that He show'd throughout;
It was the Bus'ness that He went about,
Love, Kindness and Compassion to display
Tow'rds ev'ry Object coming in His Way.

III

But Love so High, Humility so Low,
And all the Virtues which His Actions show,—
His doing Good and His enduring Ill
For Man's Salvation and God's Holy Will,
Exceed all Terms: His Inward, Outward Plan
Was Love to God express'd by Love to Man.

IV

Mark of the Church which He establish'd, then,
Is the same Love, same Proof of it to Men.
Without, let Sects parade it how they list,
Nor Church, nor Unity can e'er subsist;
The Name may be usurp'd, but Want of Pow'r
Will shew the Babel, high or low the Tow'r.

V

And where the same Behaviour shall appear
In outward Form, that was in Christ so clear,
There is the very Outward Church that He
Will'd all Mankind to shew, and all to see;
Of which whoever shews it from the Heart,
Is both an inward and an outward Part.

445

VI

What Excommunication can deprive
A pious Soul that is in Christ alive,
Of Church-Communion, or cut off a Limb
That Life and Action both unite to Him,
For any Circumstance of Place or Time,
Or Mode or Custom, which infers no Crime?

VII

If He be That Which His belovèd John
Calls Him, “the Light Enlight'ning ev'ryone
That comes into the World,”—will He exclude
One from His Church, whose Mind He has renew'd
To such Degree as to exert, in fact,
Like inward Temper and like outward Act?

VIII

Invisible and visible Effect
Of true Church Membership in each Respect

446

Let the One Shepherd from Above behold!
The Flocks, howe'er dispers'd, are His one Fold;
Seen by their Hearts, and their Behaviour too,
They all stand present in His gracious View.

PART THIRD.

I

A local Union, on the other Hand,
Tho' crowded Numbers should together stand,
Joining in one same Form of Pray'r and Praise,
Or Creed express'd in regulated Phrase,
Or aught beside,—tho' it assume the Name
Of Christian Church, may want the real Claim.

II

For if it want the Spirit and the Sign
That constitute all Worship as Divine,
The Love within, the Test of it without,
In vain the Union passes for devout.
Heartless and tokenless if it remain,
It ought to pass, in Strictness, for profane.

III

At first, an Unity of Heart and Soul,
A Distribution of an outward Dole,

447

And ev'ry Member of the Body fed,
As equally belonging to the Head,
With what it wanted, was without Suspense
True Church Communion in full Christian Sense.

IV

Whether averse the Many or the Few
To hold Communion in this righteous View,
Their Thought commences Heresy, their Deed
Schismatical, tho' they profess the Creed.
Ways of distributing, if new, should still
Maintain the old communicative Will.

V

Broken by ev'ry loveless, thankless Thought,
And not behaving as a Christian ought,—
By want of Meekness, or a Show of Pride
Tow'rds any Soul for whom our Saviour died,—

448

While this continues, Men may pray and preach
In all their Forms, but none will heal the Breach.

VI

Whatever Helps an outward Form may bring
To Church Communion, it is not the Thing,
Nor a Society, as such, nor Place,
Nor anything besides Uniting Grace;
They are but Accessories at the most
To true Communion of the Holy Ghost.

VII

This is th' essential Fellowship, the Tie
Which all true Christians are united by;
No other Union does them any Good
But that which Christ cemented with His Blood
As God and Man: that, having lost it, Men
Might live in Unity with God again.

VIII

What He came down to bring us from Above
Was Grace and Peace, and Law-fulfilling Love;
True Spirit-Worship, which His Father sought,
Was the sole End of what He did and taught;
That God's Own Church and Kingdom might begin,
Which Moses and the Prophets usher'd in.

449

PART FOURTH.

I

“The Church of Christ, as thus you represent,
And all the World is of the same Extent.
Jews, Turks, or Pagans may be Members too;
This, some may call a dreadful mystic Clue,
A Combination of the Quaker Schemes
With latitudinarian Extremes.”

II

They may; but Names, so ready at the Call
Of such as want them, have no Force at all
To overthrow momentous Truths and plain,
The very Points of Scripture and the main;
Such as distinguish in the clearest View
Th' enlighten'd Christian from the half-blind Jew.

450

III

What did the Sheet let down to Peter mean,
Who call'd the Gentiles common, or, unclean?
Let Peter answer: “God was pleas'd to show
That I should call no Man whatever so;
In ev'ry Nation he that serves Him right,
Is clean, accepted, in His Equal Sight.”

IV

If Peter said so, who will question Paul?
He, in a Manner, made this Point his all.
The real Sense of what has here been said
In mystic Paul is plainly to be read;
Nothing but obstinate Dislike to Terms
Obscures what all the Testament affirms.

V

The Jews objected, to his Gospel Clue,
A, “What Advantage therefore hath the Jew;”
Or, “Of what Use is to be circumcis'd?”
So may some Christians say, “to be baptis'd;”
May form like Questions, like Conclusions draw,
And urge the Church, as they did, and the Law.

451

VI

Th' Apostle's Reas'ning from the common Want
Of God's Free Grace, its Universal Grant
By Jesus Christ, its Reach to all Mankind
For whom the same Salvation was design'd,—
Shows that His Church, as Boundless as His Grace,
Extends Itself to all the human Race.

VII

With pious Jews of old “our King” implied
The one true King of all the Earth beside;
Whose regal Right, tho' He was pleas'd to call
Jacob His Lot, extended over all.
Tho' Israel gloried in acknowledg'd Light,
Its Virtue was not bounded by their Sight.

VIII

So will a Christian Piety confess
A Church of Christ with Boundaries no less;
Will speak, as ev'ry conscious Witness ought,
To what it knows, but scorn the partial Thought
Of Grace, or Truth, or Righteousness confin'd
To Modes and Customs of external Kind.

452

PART FIFTH.

I

The Church, consider'd only as possest
Of England, Rome, Geneva and the rest,—
Notion of Church so popularly rife,
Such Cause of endless Enmity and Strife,—
Did but arise in a succeeding Hour,
When Christians came to have a worldly Pow'r.

II

The first Apostles spread from Place to Place
The Gospel News of Universal Grace;
Inviting all to enter by Belief
Into the Church of their Redeeming Chief;—
Entrance accessible in ev'ry Part,
And shut to Nothing but a faithless Heart.

III

But when the Princes of the World became,
And Kings, Protectors of the Christian Name,
Pow'r made ambitious Pastors, Ease remiss,
And Churches dwindl'd into that and this;
The one, divided, came to want of course
Supports quite foreign to its native Force.

453

IV

Contentions rose, all tending to create
Still new Alliances of Church and State,
Form'd and reform'd, and turn'd and overturn'd,
As Force prevail'd and human Passion burn'd.
Old Revolutions, when by new dissolv'd,
Both Church and State accordingly revolv'd.

V

Such is the Mixture of an human Sway
In all external Churches at this Day,—
To the same Changes liable anew,
That Forms of Government are subject to;
While the one Church, in its true Sense, in Name
And Thing remains unchangeably the same.

VI

The private Christian, bearing Christ in Mind,
Whose Kingdom was not of a worldly Kind,

454

Has little, or has no Concern at all,
With these external Changes that befall.
Let Providence permit them or prevent,
With Truth and Spirit he remains content.

VII

Not that he thinks that Evil, more or less,
Is in its Nature alter'd by Success;
The Good is good, tho' suff'ring a Defeat,
The Bad but worse, if its Success be great;
He measures neither by th' Event that's past,
For what they were at first they are at last.

VIII

But, by the Spirit of the Gospel free,
Whatever State of Government it be
That God has plac'd him under, to submit,
So in the Church he thinks the Freedom fit;
Whilst, on Occasion of the outward Part,
He can present what God requires,—an Heart.

PART SIXTH.

I

The Heart is what the God of it demands,
Who “dwelleth not in Temples made with Hands.”

455

When Hands have made them, if no Hearts are found
Dispos'd aright to consecrate the Ground,
Vainly is Worship said to be Divine,
While in the Breast its Object has no Shrine.

II

But if it has, in that devoted Breast
A right Intention surely will be blest;
Tho' Forms, prescrib'd by Pastors in the Chair,
Should be adjusted with less perfect Care;
Tho', in some Points, the Services assign'd
Differ from those of apostolic Kind.

III

What outward Church, or Form, shall we select,
That is not chargeable with some Defect?
Each is prepar'd in all the rest to grant
A Superfluity, or else a Want,
Or both,—a Distance from Perfection wide,
Retorted on itself by all beside.

IV

What safer Remedy than pure Intent
To seek the Good by any of them meant,
Which He Who mindeth only what the Heart
Brings of its own, is ready to impart?
No human Pow'r, should it enjoin amiss
A ceremonious Rite, can hinder this.

456

V

Even in Sacrament, what frequent Storms
Has Superstition rais'd about the Forms!
In Rites baptismal, which the true Result?
Immersion, Sprinkling? Infants, or th' adult?
In the Lord's Supper, does the Celebration
Make Trans-, or Con-, or Non-substantiation?

VI

These, and a World of Controversies more,
Serve to enlarge the bibliothecal Store;
While Champions make Antiquity their Boast,
And all pretend to imitate it most,—
Prone to neglect for criticising Pique
Essential Truths eternally antique.

VII

Thus inward Worship lies in low Estate,
Opprest with endless Volumes of Debate
About the outward; soon as old ones die,
All undecided, comes a new Supply
Of needless Doubts to a religious Soul,
Whose upright Meaning dissipates the Whole.

VIII

Clear of all worldly, interested Views,
The one Design of Worship it pursues;
Turns all to Use that public Form allows,
By off'ring up its ever private Vows

457

For the Success of all the Good design'd
By Christ, the Common Saviour of Mankind.

PART SEVENTH.

I

A christian, in so catholic a Sense,
Can give to none but partial Minds Offence,
Forc'd to live under some divided Part,
He keeps entire the Union of the Heart,—
The sacred Tie of Love; by which alone
Christ said that His Disciples would be known.

II

He values no Distinction, as profest
By way of Separation from the rest,—
Oblig'd in Duty and inclin'd by Choice
In all the Good of any to rejoice;
From ev'ry Evil, Falsehood or Mistake
To wish them free, for common Comfort's Sake.

III

Freedom,—to which the most undoubted Way
Lies in Obedience (where it always lay)
To Christ Himself Who with an inward Call
Knocks at the Door, that is, the Heart of all.

458

At the Reception of this Heav'nly Guest
All Good comes in, all Evil quits the Breast.

IV

The free Receiver, then, becomes content
With what God orders, or does not prevent.
To them that love Him, all Things, he is sure,
Must work for Good; tho' how, may be obscure;
Even successful Wickedness, when past,
Will bring to them some latent Good at last.

V

Fall'n as divided Churches are and gone
From the Perfection of the Christian one,
Respect is due to any that contains
The venerable, tho' but faint, Remains
Of ancient Rule, which had not in its View
The Letter only, but the Spirit too.

VI

When that Variety of new-found Ways
Which People so run after in our Days,
Has done its utmost; when “Lo here, Lo there,”
Shall yield to inward Seeking and sincere,—
What was at first, may come to be again
The Praise of Church-Assemblies amongst Men.

VII

Meanwhile, in that to which we now belong,
To mind in public Lesson, Pray'r and Song,
Teaching and Preaching, what conduces best
To true Devotion in the private Breast,—

459

Willing increase of Good to ev'ry Soul,—
Seems to be our Concern upon the whole.

VIII

So God and Christ and holy Angels stand
Dispos'd to ev'ry Church in ev'ry Land,
The Growth of Good still helping to complete
Whatever Tares be sown amongst the Wheat.
Who would not wish to have and to excite
A Disposition so Divinely right?

A DYING SPEECH;

From Mr. Law.

460

In this unhappily divided State
That Christian Churches have been in of late,
One must, however catholic the Heart,
Join and conform to some divided Part.
The Church of England is the Part, that I
Have always liv'd in, and now choose to die;
Trusting, that if I worship God with her
In Spirit and in Truth, I shall not err;
But as acceptable to Him be found,
As if, in Times for one pure Church renown'd
Born, I had also liv'd in Heart and Soul,
A faithful Member of the unbroken Whole.

As I am now, by God's good Will, to go
From this disorder'd State of Things below;
Into His Hands as I am now to fall,
Who is the Great Creator of us all,—
God of all Churches that implore His Aid,—
Lover of all the Souls that He hath made;

461

Whose Kingdom, that of Universal Love,
Must have its blest Inhabitants above.
From ev'ry Class of Men, from all the good,
Howe'er descended from one human Blood:—
So, in this loving Spirit, I desire,
As in the midst of all their sacred Quire,
With Rites prescrib'd and with a Christian View
Of all the World to take my last Adieu;
Willing in Heart and Spirit to unite
With ev'ry Church in what is just and right,
Holy and good, and worthy in its Kind
Of God's Acceptance from an honest Mind;
Praying, that ev'ry Church may have its Saints
And rise to that Perfection which it wants.

Father, Thy Kingdom come! Thy Sacred Will
May all the Tribes of humam Race fulfil;
Thy Name be prais'd by ev'ry living Breath,
Author of Life and Vanquisher of Death!

A COMMENT ON THE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE

“In the Beginning was the Word.” —St. John, i. 1.

I

“In the Beginning was the Word,” saith John,—
“The Life,” “the Light,” “the Truth,” for all are One,—

462

One All-creating Pow'r, All-wise, All-good,
In Which at first the whole Creation stood;
Moving and acting in the Pow'r Alone;—
How bright, how perfect and, no Evil known,
How blest was Natures universal Plan,
And the fair Image of his Maker, Man!

II

The Word, the Pow'r, is Christ; th' Eternal Son
Of God, by Whom the Father's Will is done.
Each is the Other's Glory, and the Love
From Both the Bliss of all the blest above.
Angels in Heav'n stand ready to obey,
And, as the Word directs them, so do they.
So must we Men, born here upon this Earth,
If ever we regain the Heav'nly Birth;—

III

Lost by poor Adam in the fatal Hour
Of lusting after Knowledge without Pow'r;
When, yielding to Temptation, tho' forbid
To eat what was not good for him, he did.
The Pow'r of Life consenting to forego,—
For what was told him would be Death to know,—
He died to his Celestial State, and then
Could but convey an earthly one to Men.

463

IV

From which to rise, and in true Life to live,
What but the Word, wherein was Life, could give,—
Engrafted as an holy Seed within,
And born to save the human Soul from Sin?
The Word made Man by Virgin-Birth, and free
From Sin's Dominion, Jesus Christ is He;
Whom, of Pure Love, the Father sent to save,
And finish Man's Redemption from the Grave.

V

This Second Adam, Healer of the Breach
Made by the first, nor Sin nor Death could reach.
He conquer'd both; and, in the glorious Strife,
Became the Parent of an endless Life
To all who ever did, or shall, aspire
To Life and Spirit from this Heav'nly Sire,
And cultivate the Seed which He hath sown
In ev'ry Heart, till the new Man be grown.

VI

The old, we know, must die away to Dust,
And a new Image rise amongst the just;
When at the End of temporary Scene
Christ shall appear, eternally to reign
In all His Glory, Human and Divine;
When all the born of God in Him shall shine,
Rais'd to the Life that was at first possest,
And bow the Knee to Jesus, and be blest.

VII

Since, then, the Cause of our eternal Life
Is Christ in us, what need of any Strife

464

In His Religion,—of “Lo Here! Lo There!”
When to all Hearts He is Himself so near,
With Pow'r to save us from the Cause of Ill,
A worldly, selfish, unbelieving Will;
To bless whatever tends to make the Mind
Meek, loving, humble, patient, and resign'd?

VIII

The Mind to Christ so far as God shall draw
By Nature, Scripture, Reason, Learning, Law,
Or aught beside,—so far their Use is right,
Proclaiming Him, and not themselves the Light.
From first to last His Gospel is the same;
And of all Worship that deserves a Name,
The Word of Life by Faith to apprehend
That was in the Beginning,—is the End.

A MEMORIAL ABSTRACT OF A SERMON PREACHED BY THE REV. MR. H--- ON PROVERBS, Ch. XX. v. 27.

465

I

The human Spirit, when it burns and shines,
“Lamp of Jehovah” Solomon defines.
Now, as a Vessel, to contain the Whole,
This “Lamp” denotes the Body, Oil the Soul
(As H---observes) which, tho' itself be dark,
Is capable of Life's enkindling Spark;
But, as consider'd in its own dark Root,
Still wants the Unction and the Light's Recruit.

II

Brighter than all that now is look'd upon,
This “Lamp of God” at its Creation shone;
The Body, purer than the finest Gold,
Had no Defect in its material Mould;
The Soul's enkindled Oil was heav'nly bright,
Till evil Mixture darken'd its good Light,
And hid the supernatural Supply
That fed the Glorious Lamp of the Most High.

III

That fatal Poison quench'd in human Frame
The Spirit flowing from the vital Flame.
Adam's free Will consenting to such Food,
Death in its natural Effect ensued:

466

True Life departing left him naked, blind
And spiritless in Body, Soul, and Mind.
Dead to his paradisic Life, a Birth
From Sin began his mortal Life on Earth.

IV

His Faith, his spiritual Discernment gone,
He fell into a poring, reas'ning one;
Into a State of Ignorance he fell,
Which brutal Instincts very oft excel.
What his Self-seeking Will would know was known,—
The Light on this terrestrial Orb alone,
Dark in Comparison, when this was done,
As Moon or Star-light to meridian Sun.

V

What Help, when lesser Light should vanish too,
And Death discover a still darker View,
Had not the Christ of God, Sole Help for Sin,
Rais'd up Salvation as a Seed within,
That, sprouting forth by Penitence and Faith,
Could pierce thro' Death and dissipate its Wrath;
Till God's true Image should again revive,
And rise, thro' Him, to its first Life alive?

VI

This Parent Saviour, God's Anointed Son,
Begets the Life that Adam should have done;

467

Reforms the Lamp, renews the holy Fire,
And sends to Heav'n its flaming Love-Desire.
'Tis He, “the Life that was the Light of Men,”—
Who fits them to be Lamps of God again;
Restores the Vessel, Oil, and Light, and all
The Spirit-Life that vanish'd at the Fall.

VII

Reason has Nothing to proceed upon,
Without an Unction from this Holy One;
Without a Spirit, to dispel the Damp
Of Nature's Darkness, and light up the Lamp:
Nothing whatever but the Touch Divine,
Can make its highest Faculties to shine,—
All just as helpless in their selfish Use
As Lamps their own enkindling to produce.

VIII

All true Religion teaches them to trim
The Lamp, that must receive its Light from Him;
From Him, the Quick'ning Spirit, to obtain
The Life that must for ever Blest remain.
The Life of Christ arising in the Soul,
This, this alone makes human Nature whole;
Makes ev'ry Gift of Grace to reunite,
And shine for ever in Jehovah's Sight.

468

ON THE UNION AND THREEFOLD DISTINCTION OF GOD, NATURE AND CREATURE.

PART FIRST.

I

All that comes under our Imagination
Is either God, or Nature, or Creation.
God is the Free Eternal Light, or Love,
Before, beyond all Nature, and above;
The One Unchangeable, Unceasing Will
To ev'ry Good, and to no Sort of Ill.

469

II

Nature without Him is th' abyssal Dark,
Void of the Light's beatifying Spark;
Th' Attraction of Desire, by Want repell'd,
Whence circling Rage proceeds, and Wrath unquell'd:
But by the Light's All-joyous Pow'r th' Abyss
Becomes the Groundwork of a Threefold Bliss.

III

Creation is the Gift of Light and Life
To Nature's Contrariety and Strife;
For without Nature, or desirous Want,
There would be nothing to receive the Grant;
Nor could a Creature or created Scene
Exist, did no such Medium intervene.

IV

Creature and God would be the same; the Thought
Which Books inform us that Spinoza taught,

470

Would then be true, and we be forc'd to call
Things good or bad “the Parts of the great All.”
In whatsoever State itself may be,
Nature is His, but Nature is not He.

V

Like as the Dark behind the shining Glass
By hind'ring Rays that of themselves would pass
Affords that Glimpse of Objects to the View
Which the transparent Mirror could not do,—
So does the Life of Nature in its Place
Reflect the Glories of the Life of Grace.

VI

Of ev'ry Creature's Happiness the Growth
Depends upon the Union of them both,
And all that God proceeded to create
Came forth at first in this united State.
No evil Wrath or Darkness could begin
To show itself but by a Creature's Sin.

VII

And were not Nature separate, alone,
Such a dark Wrath, it could not have been shown;
Its hidden Properties are Ground as good
For Life's Support as Bones to Flesh and Blood;

471

The false, unnatural, ungodly Will
That lays them open, is sole Cause of Ill.

VIII

When it is caus'd, renouncing, to be sure,
All such-like Wills contributes to the Cure;
That Nature's wrathful Forms may not appear,
Nor what is made subservient domineer;
But God's Good Will all evil ones subdue,
And bless all Nature, and all Creature too.

PART SECOND.

I

This Universal Blessing to inspire
Was God's Eternal Purpose or Desire,—
Desire, which never could be unfulfill'd;
Love put it forth, and Heav'n was what It will'd;
And the Desire had in Itself the Means
From Whence the Love could raise the Heav'nly Scenes.

II

Hence, an Eternal Nature, to proclaim
By outward, visible, majestic Frame
The Hidden Deity, the Pow'r Divine,
By Which th' innumerable Beauties shine,
That by Succession without End recall
A God of Love, a Present All in All.

472

III

From Love, thus manifested in the Birth
Of Nature and the Pow'rs of Heav'n and Earth,
The various Births of Creatures at the Voice
Of God came forth to see and to rejoice;
To live within His Kingdom, and partake
Of ev'ry Bliss adapted to their Make.

IV

For as, before a Creature came to see,
No other Life but that of God could be,—
No other place but Heav'n, no other State:
So, when it pleas'd th' Almighty to create,
From Him must come the Creature's Life within;
Its outward State from Nature must begin.

V

Oh! What angelic Orders, what Divine
And Heav'nly Creatures, answer'd the Design
Of God's Communicative Goodness, shown
By giving Rise to Offsprings of His Own!
With God-like Spirits how was Nature fill'd
And beauteous Forms, as its Great Author will'd!

VI

Thus in its full Perfection then it stood,
Seeking, receiving, manifesting Good

473

By Virtue of that Union which it had
With Him Who made no Creature to be bad,
But highly blest and with a potent Will
So to continue, and to know no Ill.

VII

Nature's united Properties had none.
Whence, then, the Change that it has undergone
But from the Creatures striving to aspire
Above the Light which their own dark Desire
Quench'd in themselves, and rais'd up all the Storms
Of Nature's wrathful, separated Forms?

VIII

So Lucifer and his proud Legions fell,
And turn'd their Heav'nly Mansion to an Hell,—
To that dark, formless Void wherein, the Light
Ent'ring again with Nature to unite,
The new Creation of the World began,
And God's Own Image Lord of it,—a Man.

ON THE ORIGIN OF EVIL.

474

I

Evil, if rightly understood,
Is but the Skeleton of Good,
Divested of its Flesh and Blood.

II

While it remains without Divorce
Within its hidden, secret Source,
It is the Good's own Strength and Force.

III

As Bone has the supporting Share
In human Form Divinely fair,
Altho' an Evil when laid bare;

IV

As Light and Air are fed by Fire,
A shining Good, while all conspire,
But,—separate,—dark, raging Ire;

V

As Hope and Love arise from Faith,
Which then admits no Ill, nor hath;
But, if alone, it would be Wrath;

475

VI

Or any Instance thought upon,
In which the Evil can be none,
Till Unity of Good is gone;

VII

So, by Abuse of Thought and Skill
The greatest Good, to wit, Free-will,
Becomes the Origin of Ill.

VIII

Thus, when rebellious Angels fell,
The very Heav'n where good ones dwell
Became th' apostate Spirits' Hell.

IX

Seeking, against Eternal Right,
A Force without a Love and Light,
They found and felt its evil Might.

X

Thus Adam, biting at their Bait
Of Good and Evil when he ate,
Died to his first thrice-happy State;

XI

Fell to the Evils of this Ball,
Which in harmonious Union all
Were Paradise before his Fall;

XII

And, when the Life of Christ in Men
Revives its faded Image, then
Will all be Paradise again.

476

A FRIENDLY EXPOSTULATION WITH A CLERGYMAN, CONCERNING A PASSAGE IN HIS SERMON RELATING TO THE REDEMPTION OF MANKIND.

477

'Twas a good Sermon; but a close Review
Would bear one Passage to be alter'd, too;
Because it did not in the least agree
With the plain Text (as it appear'd to me),
Nor with your Comment on what God had done
To save Mankind by His Redeeming Son.

You did, if I remember right, admit
That other Means, if He had so thought fit,
Might have obtain'd the salutary Views
As well as those which He was pleas'd to choose;
That it was too presumptuous to confine
To those alone th' Omnipotence Divine,—
As if a Wisdom Infinite could find
No other Method how to save Mankind;
Tho' that, indeed, which had been fix'd upon,
Was in effect become the only one!

Now, this, however well design'd to raise
An awful Sense by its respectful Phrase,—
An Adoration of the Boundless Pow'rs
Of the Almighty, when compar'd with ours;
To sink in humble Rev'rence and profound
All human Thoughts of fixing any Bound
To an Unerring Wisdom, Which extends
Beyond what finite Reason comprehends;
Yet, if examin'd by severer Test,
It is at least incautiously express'd,
And leaves the subtlest of the Gospel's Foes,
The Deists, this Objection to propose,—
To which they have, and will have, a Recourse,
And still keep urging its unanswer'd Force.

478

“If there was no Necessity,” they say,
“For saving Men in this mysterious Way,
“What Proof can the Divines pretend to bring—
“While they confess the Nature of the Thing
“Does not forbid,—that the Celestial Scenes
“Will not be open'd by some other Means?
“What else but Book-authority at best
“Asserts this Way exclusive of the rest,—
“Of equal Force, if the Almighty's Will
“Had but appointed them to save from Ill;—
“This Way, in which the Son of the Most High
“Is by His Father's Pleasure doom'd to die
“For Satisfaction of Paternal Ire;
“Which when they make Religion to require,
“Confounds all Sense of Justice by a Scheme
“The most unworthy of the Great Supreme?
“As other Ways might have obtain'd the End,
“Nature and Reason force us to attend
“To huge Absurdities which follow this,
“And, since it was not needful, to dismiss.”

This is the Bourdon of deistic Song,
Which rising Volumes labour to prolong.
Take this away, the rest would all remain

479

As flat and trifling as it is profane;
But, this remaining, hither they retreat,
And lie secure from any full Defeat.

But when the Need most absolute is shown
Of Man's Redemption by the Means alone,
The Birth, and Life, and Death, and Re-ascent,
Thro' which the One Theandric Saviour went,
To quench the Wrath of Nature in the Race
Of Men,—not God, in whom it has no Place:
Then, Scripture, Sense, and Reason coincide,
And all conspire to follow the One Guide,—
Of Possibilities to waive the talk
In which it is impossible to walk,
And raise the Soul to seek and find the Good
By this one Method, which no other could.

Then, true Religion, call it by the Name
“Christian” or “Natural,” is still the same,—
From Christ deriv'd as Healer of the Soul,
Or Nature, made by His Re-entrance whole;
Who is in ev'ry Man th' Enlightning Ray,
The Faith and Hope of Love's Redeeming Day,—
The Only Name or Pow'r that can assure
Nature's Religion, that is, Nature's Cure.
But, if Salvation might have been bestow'd
By other Means than what the Sacred Code
Declares throughout, the Deists will soon say,
“The Means that might be possible, still may;
And, led to think that Scripture is at Odds
With Nature, take some other to be God's.

480

Thus may a “no Necessity,” allow'd,
Tend to increase the unbelieving Crowd.

As Adam died, and in him all his Race,
Not to the Life of Nature, but of Grace;
There could be no new Birth of it or Growth
But from a parent Union of them both,—
Such as in ev'ry possible Respect
Jesus Incarnate only could effect.
From Him alone Who had the Life, could Men
Have it restor'd, renew'd, reviv'd again.—

But I am trespassing too much, I fear,
And preaching, when my Province is to hear.—

Millions of Ways could we suppose beside,
This, we are sure, which Saving Love has tried,
Must be the best, must be the straightest Line
Of Action, when consider'd as Divine:
This Way alone then must as sure be gone,
As that a Line, if straight, can be but one.

ON THE SAME SUBJECT;

Written upon another Occasion.

I

“Mankind's Redemption,” you are pleas'd to say,
“By Jesus Christ was not the only Way
That could succeed; indefinitely more
Th' Almighty's Wisdom had within Its Store;

481

By any chosen one of which, no doubt,
The same Redemption had been brought about.

II

“For who shall dare,” you argue, “in this Case,
To limit the Omnipotence of Grace;
As if a finite Understanding knew
What the Almighty could, or could not, do;—
Though, since He chose this Method, we must own
That our Dependence is on This alone?”

III

Now, Sir, acknowledging His Pow'r Immense,
Beyond the Reach of all created Sense,—
Does it not seem to follow thereupon,
That His True Way must be directly One?
To save the World He gave His Only Son;
Therefore, by Him alone it could be done.

IV

Variety of Ways is the Effect
Of finite View, that sees not the direct;
But the Almighty, having all in View,
Must be supposed to see and take it too,—
To see at once, tho' we are in the dark,
The one straight Line to the intended Mark.

V

Saint Paul's Assertion of “No other Name
Giv'n under Heav'n,” appears to be the same

482

With this: “No other Name or Pow'r could save
But that of Jesus, which Jehovah gave.”
More Sons, more Saviours, as consistent seem
As more effective Methods to redeem.

VI

“I am the Way,” said Christ. There could not be,
By just conclusion, any, then, but He.
“I am the Truth.” Whence it appears anew,
That no Way else could possibly be true.
“I am the Life;” to which, as Adam died,
Nothing could bring Mankind again beside.

THOUGHTS ON IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS, OCCASIONED BY READING THE REV. MR. HERVEY'S DIALOGUES BETWEEN THERON AND ASPASIO.

A Fragment.

486

“Imputed Righteousness!”—Belovèd Friend,
To what Advantage can this Doctrine tend,
If, at the same Time, a Believer's Breast
Be not by real Righteousness possest;
And if it be, why Volumes on it made
With such a Stress upon “imputed” laid?

Amongst the Disputants of later Days,
This, in its Turn, became a fav'rite Phrase;
When, much divided in religious Schemes,
Contending Parties ran into Extremes.
And now it claims th' Attention of the Age,
In Hervey's elegant and lively Page;
This his Aspasio labours to impress,
With ev'ry Turn of Language and Address;
With all the Flow of Eloquence that shines
Thro' all his (full enough) embellish'd Lines.

Tho' now so much exerting to confirm
Its vast Importance, and revive the Term,
He was himself, he lets his Theron know,
Of diff'rent Sentiments not long ago;

487

And Friends of yours, it has been thought, I find,
Have brought Aspasio to his present Mind.
Now, having read (but unconvinc'd, I own,)
What various Reason for it he has shown,
Or rather Rhetoric,—if it be true
In any Sense that has appear'd to you,
I rest secure of giving no Offence,
By asking how you understand the Sense;
By urging in a Manner frank and free
What Reasons, as I read, occur to me,
Why “Righteousness” for Man to rest upon
Must be a “real,” not “imputed,” one.

To shun much novel Sentiment and nice,
I take the Thing from its apparent Rise.
It should seem, then, as if “imputed Sin”
Had made “imputed Righteousness” begin;
The one suppos'd, the other, to be sure,
Would follow after—like Disease and Cure.
Let us examine, then, “imputed Guilt,”
And see on what Foundation it is built.

As our first Parents lost an heav'nly State,
All their Descendents share their hapless Fate,

488

Forewarn'd of God, when tempted, not to eat
Of the forbidden Tree's pernicious Meat;
Because incorporating mortal Leav'n
Would kill of course in them the Life of Heav'n.
They disobey'd, did Adam and his Wife,
And died of Course to their true heav'nly Life.
That Life thus lost, the Day they disobey'd,
Could not by them be possibly convey'd.
No other Life could Children have from them
But what could rise from the parental Stem,—
That Love of God alone Which we adore
The Life so lost could possibly restore;
Their Children could not, being born to Earth,
Be born to Heaven but by an Heav'nly Birth.
God found a Way, explain it how we will,
To save the human Race from endless Ill;
To save the very disobeying Pair;
And made their whole Posterity His Care.

Has this great Goodness any thing akin
To God's “imputing” our first Parents' Sin
To their unborn Posterity?—What Sense
In such a strange and scriptureless Pretence?
For the Men feel—so far we are agreed—
The Consequences of a sinful Deed;
Yet where ascrib'd by any sacred Pen
But to the Doers is the Deed to Men;
Where to be found in all the Scripture thro'
This “Imputation,” thus advanc'd anew?

Adam and Eve, by Satan's Wiles decoy'd,
Did what the kind Commandment said “avoid.”
To them with Justice, therefore, you impute
The Sin of eating the forbidden Fruit;
And ev'ry Imputation must in Fact,
If just, be built on some preceding Act;

489

Without the previous Deed suppos'd the Word
Becomes unjust, unnatural, absurd.

If, as you seem'd to think the other Day,
All Adam's Race in some mysterious Way
Sinn'd when he sinn'd, consented to his Fall,—
With Justice then impute it to them all!
But still it follows, that they all contract
An Imputation founded upon Fact;
And “Righteousness of Christ” in Christian Heirs
Must be as deeply and as truly theirs,
An Heav'nly Life in order to replace
As was the Sin that made a guilty Race;
So that “imputing” either Good or Ill
Must presuppose a correspondent Will;
Or else “Imputers” certainly must make
Thro' Ignorance or other Cause Mistake.

Old Eli thus, not knowing what to think,
“Imputed” Hannah's silent Pray'r to Drink;
Little supposing that it would prepare
A Súccessor to him, her silent Pray'r.
There may be other Meanings of the Phrase,
To be accounted for in human Ways;
But God's “imputing” to the future Child
The Sin by which his Parents were beguil'd,
Seems to establish an unrighteous Blame
That brings no Honour to its Maker's Name.

490

God's Honour, Glory, Majesty and Grace,
I grant, is your Intention in the Case;
But wish revolv'd in your impartial Thought,
How far the Doctrine tends, when it is taught,
To such an honest Purpose, and how far
Justice and Truth may seem to be at War,
If God “impute” to guiltless Children Crimes,
Committed only in their Parents' Times.

Pious Aspasio, I imagine, too,
Had God's “resistless Sov'reignty” in View;
The Charge of Puritan or other Name
He scorn'd aright and, making Truth his Aim,
Found it, he thought, in eminent Divines,
Of whose Opinion these are the Outlínes.—
They think, at least they seem to represent,
That God in Honour upon Sin's Event
Could not forgive the Sinners that had stray'd
Without a proper Satisfaction made
To His Offended Justice, and, because
Upon their Breach of the Almighty's Laws
None else was adequate to what was done,
The Vengeance fell on His Belovèd Son,
Who gave Himself to suffer in our Stead,
And thus to Life again restor'd the dead;
Because consistently with Justice then
God could bestow His Mercy upon Men.

491

Man had contracted in that fatal Day
Debt so immense, that Man could never pay;
He Who was God as well as Man, He could,
And made the Satisfaction thro' His Blood,—
Paid all the just Demand, “imputed” thus
Our Sin to Him, His Righteousness to us.—
This sets the Doctrine, if I take aright
Their Words and Meaning, in the plainest Light.

Now, since accounting for the Truth amiss
May give Distaste in such an Age as this,
And be a stumbling-block to them who might
Receive an Explanation that was right,—
Not as a captious Foe, but hearty Friend,
May one entreat such Teachers to attend,
And reconcile their System, if they can,
To God's Proceeding with His Creature Man,—
To that Paternal, Tender Love and Grace
Which at Man's Fall immediately took Place,—
That Inward, Holy Thing, inbreathèd then,
Which would re kindle Heav'n in him again?
Does “Wrath,” or “Vengeance,” or a “Want” appear
“Of Satisfaction” or “of Payment” here
In Man's Creator? For Mankind had He
A purchas'd Grace, which contradicts a Free?
Is it not plain, that an Unalter'd Love
Sent Help to poor fall'n Creatures from Above,
Unbargain'd, Unsolicited, Unmov'd
But by Itself, as Its Exertion prov'd;—
No foreign Promise, no “imputed” Ease,
But Remedy as Real as Disease,
That would, according to true Nature's Ground,
Bring on the Cure, and make the Patient sound?

492

That Christ, that God's becoming Man, was it,
Your Friends with highest Gratitude admit;
Whose utmost Talents are employ'd to show
The Obligations that to Him we owe,—
To press the Object of our Faith and Trust,
Christ all in all, the Righteous and the Just,
The “True Redeeming Life,”—essential this
To ev'ry Christian who aspires to Bliss!
Why not subjoin—I cite the Hero Paul,
And make Appeal to Christians—“in you all,”—
Form'd in you, dwelling in you, and within
Regenerating Life, dethroning Sin;
Working in more and more resignèd Wills
The gradual Conquest of all selfish Ills;
Till the true Christian to true Life revive,
“Dead to the World, to God, thro' Him, alive?”

What num'rous Texts from Paul, from ev'ry Saint,
Might furnish our Citations, did we want,
And could not see that Righteousness or Sin
Arise not from without, but from within;
That “Imputation,” where they are not found,
Can reach no further than an empty Sound,—
No further than “imputed” Health can reach
The Cure of Sickness, tho' a Man should preach
With all the Eloquence of Zeal and tell
How Health “imputed” makes a sick Man well!
Indeed, if Sickness be “imputed” too,
“Imputed Remedy,” no Doubt, may do;
Words may pour forth their entertaining Store,
But Things are—just as Things were just before.

493

In so important a Concern as that
Which good Aspasio's Care is pointed at,
A small Mistake which at the Bottom lies
May sap the Building that shall thence arise.
Who would not wish that Architect so skill'd
On great Mistake might not persist to build,
But strictly search and for sufficient While,
If the Foundation could support the Pile?

This “Imputation,” which he builds upon,
Has been the Source of more Mistakes than one.
Hence rose, to pass the intermediate Train
Of growing Errors and observe the main,
That worse than pagan Principle of Fate,
Predestination's partial Love and Hate;
By which, not tied like fancied Jove to look
In stronger Destiny's decreeing Book,
The God of Christians is suppos'd to will
That some should come to Good, and some to Ill,—
And for no Reason but to show, in fine,
Th' Extent of Goodness and of Wrath Divine.

Whose Doctrine this? I quote no less a Man
Than the renownèd Calvin for the Plan;

494

Who having labour'd with Distinctions vain
“Mere Imputation” only to maintain,
Maintains, when speaking on another Head,
This horrid Thought, to which the former led:
“Predestination here I call,” says he,
Defining, “God's Eternal, Fix'd Decree,
“Which having settl'd in His Will He pass'd,—
“What ev'ry Man should come to at the last.”
And lest the Terms should be conceiv'd to bear
A Meaning less than he propos'd severe:
“For all Mankind,” he adds to Definition,
“Are not created on the same Condition;”—
(“Pari Conditione” is the Phrase,
If you can turn it any other Ways;)—
“But Life to some eternal is restrain'd,
“To some Damnation endless pre-ordain'd.”

Calvin has push'd the Principle, I guess,
To what your Friends would own to be Excess;
And probably Aspasio, less inclin'd
To run directly into Calvin's Mind,
Would give “imputing” a more mod'rate Sense,
That no “Damnation” might arise from thence;
But how will mollifying Terms confute
The fam'd Reformer's Notion of “impute”?
If it confer such arbitrary Good,
The dire Reverse is quickly understood,—
So understood, that open Eyes may see
'Tis Calvin's Fiction, and not God's Decree,—
Not His Whose Forming Love and Ruling Aid
Ceaseless extends to all that He hath made;
Who gave the Gift which He was pleas'd to give,
That “none might perish, but that all might live,”—

495

His Only Son, in Whom the Light That guides
The born into the World to Life, resides,—
A real Life, that by a real Birth
Raises a Life beyond the Life of Earth
In all His Children.—But no more to you,
Better than me who know it to be true.
And, if Aspasio's really humbl'd Soul
Be by a touch of Garment-Hem made whole,
He might, as I should apprehend, be sure
That “Imputation” could not cause the Cure.
When the poor Woman, in the Gospel, found
“Touch of the Saviour's Clothes” to make her sound,
We know the Virtue did from Him proceed
That mix'd with Faith restor'd her, as we read.
“Gone out of Him” obliges to infer,
That 'twas by Faith attracted into her.

A CONTRAST BETWEEN TWO EMINENT DIVINES.

Two diff'rent Painters, Artists in their Way,
Have drawn Religion in her full Display;
To both she sat.—One gaz'd at her all o'er;
The other fix'd upon her Features more:
Hervey has figur'd her with ev'ry Grace
That Dress could give;—but Law has hit her Face.

496

ON THE NATURE OF FREE GRACE, AND THE CLAIM TO MERIT FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF GOOD WORKS.

I

Grace, to be sure, is in the last Degree
The Gift of God, Divinely pure and free;
Not bought or paid for, merited or claim'd,
By any Works of ours that can be nam'd.

II

What Claim or Merit, or withal to pay,
Could Creatures have before creating Day?
Gift of Existence is the Gracious one
Which all the rest must needs depend upon.

III

All “boasting” then of Merit, all Pretence
Of Claim from God, in a deserving Sense,
Is in one Word “excluded” by St. Paul:
“Whate'er thou hast, thou hast receiv'd it all.”

IV

But, sure, the Use of any Gracious Pow'rs
Freely bestow'd may properly be ours;
Right Application being ours to choose,
Or, if we will be so absurd, refuse!

497

V

In this Respect what need to controvert
The sober Sense of Merit or Desert?
“Works,” it is said, “will have,”—and is it hard
To say “deserve,” or “merit”—“their Reward.”

VI

Grace is the real saving Gift; but then
Good Works are profitable unto Men.
God wants them not; but, if our Neighbours do,
Flowing from Grace, they prove it to be true.

VII

When human Words ascribe to human Spirit
“Worthy,” “Unworthy,” “Merit” or “Demerit,”
Why should Disputes forbid the Terms a place,
Which are not meant to derogate from Grace?

VIII

All comes from God Who gave us first to live
And all succeeding Grace; 'tis ours to “give
To God Alone the Glory,” and to Man,
Empow'r'd by Him, to do what Good we can.

498

A SOLILOQUY ON READING A DISPUTE ABOUT FAITH AND WORKS.

I

What an excessive Fondness for Debate
Does this dividing Faith from Works create!
Some say, “Salvation is by Faith alone,
Or else the Gospel will be overthrown;”
Others for that same Reason place the Whole
In Works, which bring Salvation to a Soul.

II

Gospel of Christ, consistently applied,
Unites together what they both divide;
It is itself indeed the very Faith
That works by Love and saves a Soul from Wrath.
A new Dispute should some third Party pave,
Nor Faith, nor Works, but Love alone would save.

III

The Solifidian takes a Text from Paul,
And “Works are good for Nothing, Faith is all;”—
Doctrine which his Antagonist disclaims,
And shows how Works must justify, from James.
A Third in either soon might find a Place,
Where Love is plainly the Exalted Grace.

IV

There is no End of jarring System found
In thus contending not for Sense, but Sound,—

499

For Sound, by which th' Inseparable Three
Are so distinguish'd as to disagree;
Altho' Salvation in its real Spring,—
Faith, Work, or Love,—be one and the same Thing;—

V

One Pow'r of God, or Life of Christ within,
Or Holy Spirit washing away Sin,—
Not by Repentance only, or Belief
Only that slights a penitential Grief
And its meet Fruits, and justifies alone
A full conceiv'd Assurance of its own;—

VI

Nor by Works only;—nor, tho' Paul above
Both Faith and Works have lifted it, can Love
Have, or desire to have, th' exclusive Claim
In Men's Salvation to this only Fame.
By All together Souls are sav'd from Ill,
Whene'er they yield an unresisting Will.

VII

God has a Never-ceasing Will to save,
And Men by Grace may savingly behave.
This would produce less Fondness for a Sect,
And more Concern about the main Effect;
Then, Faith alone might save them from the Fall,
As one good Word in Use that stood for all.

500

VIII

By native Union all the Blessèd Pow'rs
Of Grace That makes Salvation to be ours,
One in another, spring up in the Breast;
No Soul is sav'd by one without the rest.
Since, then, they all subsist in any one,
Division ceases,—and Dispute is gone.

THOUGHTS ON PREDESTINATION AND REPROBATION.

A Fragment.

501

Flatter me not with your “Predestination,”
Nor sink my Spirits with your “Reprobation!”
From all your high Disputes I stand aloof,—
Your Pre-'s and Re-'s, your Destin-, and your Proof,
And formal Calvinistical Pretence
That contradicts all Gospel and good Sense.

When God declares so often that He wills
All sort of Blessings and no sort of Ills;
That His Severest Purpose never meant
“A Sinner's Death, but that he should repent;”
For the whole World when His Belovèd Son
Is said to do whatever He has done,—
To become Man, to suffer, and to die,
That all might live, as well as you and I,—
Shall rigid Calvin after this, or you,
Pretend to tell me that it is not true;
But that eternal, absolute Decree
Has damn'd beforehand either you, or me,
Or anybody else; that God design'd,
When He created, not to save Mankind,
But only some? “The rest,” this Man maintain'd,
“Were to decreed Damnation pre-ordain'd.”—
No, Sir; not all your metaphysic Skill
Can prove the Doctrine, twist it as you will.

502

I cite the Man for Doctrine so accurst
In Book the third, and Chapter twenty-first,
Section the fifth,—an horrid, impious Lore
That one would hope was never taught before.
How it came after to prevail away,
Let them who mince the “damning” Matter, say,
And others judge, if any Christian Fruit
Be like to spring from such a pagan Root.

“Pagan,” said I? I must retract the Word;
For the poor Pagans were not so absurd.
Their Jupiter, of Gods and Men the King,
Whenever he ordain'd an hurtful Thing,
Did it, because he was oblig'd to look
And act, as Fate had bid him in a Book.
For Gods and Goddesses were subject then
To dire Necessity as well as Men,—
Compell'd to crush an Hero or a Town,
As Destiny had set the Matter down.

But in your Scheme 'tis God that orders Ill
With Sov'reign Pow'r and with Resistless Will;
He, in Whose Blessèd Name is understood
The One Eternal Will to ev'ry Good,
Is represented, tho' untied by Fate,
With a Decree of damning to create
Such as you term “the Vessels of his Wrath,”
To “show his Pow'r,” according to your Faith.
Just as if God, like some tyrannic Man,
Would plague the World, to show them that He can;

503

While others, (they, for Instance, of your Sect)
Are “Mercy's Vessels,” precious and elect,
Who think, God help them! to secure their Bliss
By such a partial, fond Conceit as this!

Talk not to me of Popery and Rome,
Nor yet foretel its Babylonish Doom;
Nor canonise reforming Saints of old,
Because they held the Doctrine that you hold!
For if they did, altho' of Saint-like Stem,
In this plain Point we must reform from them.
While freed from Rome, we are not tied, I hope,
To what is wrong in a Geneva Pope;
Nor what is right should Sirname supersede
Of Luther, Calvin, Bellarmine, or Bede.
Rome has been guilty of Excess, 'tis true,—
And so have some of the Reformers too.
If in their Zeal against the Roman Seat,
Plucking up Tares, they pluck'd up also Wheat,
Must we to Children, for what they have said
Give this Predestination-Stone for Bread?

Sir, it is worse, is your Predestination,
Ten thousand Times than Transubstantiation.
Hard is the Point that Papists have compil'd
With Sense and Reason to be reconcil'd;
But yet it leaves to our Conception still
Goodness in God and Holiness of Will,—
A Just, Impartial Government of all,
A Saving Love, a Correspondent Call
To ev'ry Man and, in the fittest Hour

504

For him to hear, all offer'd Grace and Power;
Which he may want, and have, if he will crave
From Him Who willeth Nothing but to save.

Whereas, this Reprobation Doctrine here
Not only Sense and Reason would cashier,
But take by its Pretext of sov'reign Sway
All Goodness from the Deity away;
Both Heav'n and Hell confounding with its Cant,
Virtue and Vice, the Sinner and the Saint;
Leaving by irresistible Decree
And Purpose absolute, what Man shall be,
Nothing in Sinners to detest so much,
As God's Contrivance how to make them such!

That ever Christians, blest with Revelation,
Should think of His decreeing Men's Damnation,—
The God of Love, the Fountain of all Good;
“Who made,” says Paul, “all Nations of one Blood
To dwell on Earth, appointing Time, and Place;”—
And for what End this Pre-ordaining Grace?
That they might seek, and feel after, and find
The Life in God which God for Man design'd.

“We are His Offspring;”—for in that Decree,
The pagan Poet and St. Paul agree;—

505

“We are His Offspring.”—Now, Sir, put the Case
Of some great Man and his descending Race;
Conceive this Common Parent of them all
As willing some to stand and some to fall,—
Master, suppose, of all their future Lot,
Decreeing some to Happiness, some not;
In some to bring his Kindness into View,
To show in others what his Wrath can do;
To lead the chosen Children by the Hand,
And leave the rest to fall—who cannot stand.

I might proceed, but that the smallest Sketch
Shows an absurd and arbitrary Wretch,
Treating his Offspring so as to forbid
To think that ever God Almighty did,—
To think that Creatures who are said to be
“His Offspring” should be hurt by His Decree;
Which had they always minded, Good alone,
And not a Spark of Evil, had been known.
For His Decree, Appointment, Order, Will,
Predestinating Goodness, Pow'r and Skill,
Is of Itself the Un-beginning Good,
The pouring-forth of an Un-ending Flood
Of Ever-flowing Bliss, which only rolls
To fill His Vessels, His created Souls.

Happy Himself, the true Divine Desire,
The Love that flames thro' that Eternal Fire,
Which generates in Him th' Eternal Light,
Source of all Blessing to created Sight,
Longs with an Holy Earnestness to spread
The boundless Glories of Its Fountain Head;
To raise the possibilities of Life
Which rest in Him into a joyful Strife,—
Into a feeling Sense of Him from Whom
The various Gifts of various Blessings come.

506

To bless is His Immutable Decree,
Such as could never have begun to be;
Decree (if you will use the word “decreed”)
Did from His Love eternally proceed,
To manifest the hidden Pow'rs that reign
Through outward Nature's universal Scene;
To raise up Creatures from its vast Abyss,
Form'd to enjoy communicated Bliss;
Form'd in their sev'ral Orders to extend
Of God's Great Goodness Wonders without End.

Who does not see that Ill of any Kind
Could never come from an All-perfect Mind;
That its Perception never could begin
But from a Creature's voluntary Sin,
Made in its Maker's Image and imprest
With a free Pow'r of being ever blest,—
From ev'ry Evil in itself so free
That none could rise but by its own Decree?
By a Volition opposite to all
That God could will did Evil first befall,
And still befalls; for all the Source of Ill
Is Opposition to His Blessèd Will,
And Union with It plainly understood
To be the Source of ev'ry real Good.

To certain Truths, which you can scarce deny,
You bring St. Paul's Expressions in Reply;
Some few obscurer Sayings prone to choose,
Where he was talking to the Roman Jews.
You never heed the num'rous Texts and plain,
That will not suit with your “decreeing” Strain,
Confirming God's Unalter'd Will to bless
In Words as clear as Language can express.

507

“Who willeth all Men to be sav'd,” is one,
Too plain for Comment to be made upon;
So that, if some be not the same as all,
You must directly contradict St. Paul,
Whene'er you push to its direct Extreme
Your wild, absurd Predestination Scheme.

Paul's open, generous, enlighten'd Soul
Preach'd to Mankind a Saviour of the Whole,
Not Part of, human Race; the blinded Jew
Might boast himself in this conceited View,—
Boast of his Father Abraham and vent
The carnal Claims of Family Descent;
But the whole Family of Heav'n and Earth,
Paul knew, if blest, must have another Birth;
That Jew and Gentile was in ev'ry Place
Alike the Object of a Saving Grace.
Paul never tied Salvation to a Sect;
“All who love God” with him are “God's Elect.”

This plain, good Maxim he himself premis'd
To those fam'd Chapters which were so disguis'd
By studied Comments of a later Day,
When Words were prest to serve a partial Fray,
And Scripture turn'd into a Magazine
Of Arms for sober or for frantic Spleen.

“All who love God;”—how certain is the Key,
Whate'er disputed Passages convey!
In Paul's Epistles if some Things are read,
“Hard to be understood,” as Peter said,

508

Must this be urg'd to prove in Men's Condition
Their “Pre-election” and their “Præterition,”
Or “Pre-damnation?” For that monstrous Word,
Of all absurd “Decree” the most absurd,
Is into formal Definition wrought
By your Divines,—unstartled at the Thought
Of Sov'reign Power decreeing to become
The Author of Salvation but to some;—
To some, resembling others, they admit,
Who, are rejected,—why? “He so thought fit;
“Hath not the Potter Pow'r to make his Clay
Just what he pleases?”—Well, and tell me, pray,
What Kind of Potter must we think a Man,
Who does not make the best of it he can;
Who, making some fine Vessels of his Clay,
To show his Pow'r, throws all the rest away,
Which in itself was equally as fine?
What an Idéa this of Pow'r Divine!
Happy for us, if under God's Commands
We were as Clay is in the Potter's Hands;
Pliant and yielding readily to take
The proper Form which He is pleas'd to make!
Happy for us that He has Pow'r; because
An equal Goodness executes Its Laws,
Rejecting none butsuch as will behave
So as that no Omnipotence can save!

Who can conceive the Infinitely Good
To show less Kindness than He really could,—
To pre-concert Damnation and confine
Himself, His own Beneficence Divine?
An Impotency this, in evil Hour
Ascrib'd to God's Beatifying Pow'r

509

By bitter Logic and the sour Mistake
Which overweening Zeal is apt to make,—
Describing Sov'reignty as incomplete,
That does not show itself less Good than Great!
Tho' true in earthly Monarchs it may be
That Majesty and Love can scarce agree,
In His Almighty Will, Who rules above,
The Pow'r is Grace, the Majesty is Love.
What best describes the Giver of all Bliss,
Glorious in all His Attributes, is this;
The Sov'reign Lord all Creatures bow before,
But they who love Him most, the most adore.

From this one Worship if a Creature's Heart,
Fixt on aught else, determines to depart,
There needs no “pre-determining” the Case;
Idolatry ensues, and Fall from Grace.
Without, and contrary to, God's Intent,
Its own Self-ruin is the sure Event;
The Love forsaken Which alone could bless,
It needs must feel Wrath, Anger and Distress,—
The Sensibilities that must arise,
If Nature wants what Sacred Love supplies.

[_]

[Cætera desunt.]

THE POTTER AND HIS CLAY;
512

An Hymn Ascribed to Dr. Watts.

THE CONTRAST.

I

Behold the Potter and the Clay!
He forms His Vessels to His Mind;
So did Creating Love display
Itself in forming human Kind.

II

Th' Almighty Workman's Pow'r and Skill
Could have no vile, but noble, Ends;
His One Immutable Good-Will
To all that He hath made extends.

III

This Gracious Sov'reign Lord on High
By His Eternal Word and Voice

513

Chose all to live, and none to die;
Nor will He ever change His Choice.

IV

Not by His Will, but by their own,
Vile Rebels break His Righteous Laws,
And make the Terror to be known
Of which they are themselves the Cause.

V

His All-electing Love employs
All means the human Race to bless,
That Mortals may His Heav'nly Joys
By re-electing Him possess.

VI

Shall Man reply, that “God decreed
Fall'n Adam's Race not to be blest;
That for a few His Son should bleed,
And Satan should have all the rest?”

VII

Do thou, poor sinful Soul of mine,
By Faith and Penitence, embrace
Of Doubtless, Boundless Love Divine
The Free, the Universal Grace!

VIII

Let God within thy pliant Soul,
Renew the Image of His Son;
The Likeness marr'd will then be Whole,
And show what He in Christ has done.

514

AN ARGUMENT FOR DAVID'S BELIEF OF A FUTURE STATE, INFERRED FROM BATHSHEBA'S LAST WORDS TO HIM UPON HIS DEATH-BED.

I

If David knew not of a future Life,
How understood he Bathsheba his Wife;
Who, when he lay upon his Death-bed, came
To plead for Solomon's succeeding claim;
And, having prosper'd in her own Endeavour,
Said: “Let my Lord, King David, live for ever?”

II

What real Wish was Bathsheba's Intent,
If Life hereafter was not what she meant?
Say, that “for ever” to a King in Health
Meant a long Life, Prosperity and Wealth,—
To one that lay a-dying, you must own,
'Twould be a mere Burlesque upon his Throne.

515

III

If she had pray'd for David's mild Release,
Or, “Let my Lord the King depart in Peace,”—
Tho' even then 'twere difficult to stint
Her utmost Thought to so minute a Hint,—
The short-liv'd Comment might have some Pretence;
But “Live for ever” has no Sort of Sense;—

IV

Unless we grant her Meaning to extend
To future Life, that never has an End.
Piety will, and Reason must, confess
That her Intention never could be less.
“King, live for ever,” and “God save the King,”—
Old or new Phrase,—Salvation is the Thing;—

V

No poor Salvation to be quickly past,
And with a deadly Exit at the last,—
To which when David was so near, what Share
Could he enjoy of “Live for ever” Pray'r,
Had he not known what Bathsheba design'd,—
A Life to come of everlasting Kind?

VI

Tho' num'rous Proofs might readily be brought
That this was always holy David's Thought,—
Yet, since by learnèd and long-winded Ways
Men seek to break the Force of ancient Phrase,
I single out this plain, familiar one.—
Now, give as plain an Answer thereupon!

516

AN EXPOSTULATION WITH A ZEALOUS SECTARIST, WHO INVEIGHED IN BITTER TERMS AGAINST THE CLERGY AND CHURCH INSTITUTIONS.

No, Sir; I cannot see to what good End
Such bitter Words against the Clergy tend,
Pour'd from a Zeal so sharp, so unallay'd,
That suffers no Exception to be made;
While the most mild Persuasions to repress
The bitter Zeal still heighten its Excess.

Its own relentless Thought while it pursues,
What unrestrain'd Expressions it can use!
Places of Worship, which the People call
Churches, are “Synagogues of Satan” all;
At all liturgic Pray'r and Praise it storms,
As “Man's Inventions, Spirit-quenching Forms;”
And, from baptismal down to burial Rite,
Sets ev'ry Service in an odious Light;

517

All previous Order, with regard to Time,
Place, or Behaviour, passes for a Crime.

Of “Pharisaic Pride” it culls the Marks,
To represent the Bishop and his Clerks;
Who are, if offer'd any gentler Plea,
“The Devil's Ministers,” both He and They;
“Blind Guides,” “false Prophets,” and a lengthen'd Train
Of all hard Words that chosen Texts contain.
These are the Forms which, when it would object
To those in Use, it pleases to select,
Repeated by its Devotees at once
As like to Rote as any Church Response.
Nor is a Treatment of this eager Kind
To this or that Society confin'd,
Sect, or Profession,—no, no Matter which,
“Leaders” or “led,” all “fall into the Ditch;”
None but its own severe Adepts can claim
Of Truth and Spirit-Worshippers the Name.
In vain it seeks by any sacred Page
To justify this unexampled Rage.
Prophets of old, who spake against th' Abuse
Of outward Forms, were none of them so loose
As to condemn, abolish or forbid
The Things prescrib'd; but what the People did,
Who minded nothing but the mere Outside,
Neglecting wholly what it signified,—
At this Neglect the Prophets all exclaim'd.
No pious Rites has any of them blam'd;
Their true Intent was only to reduce
All outward Practice to its inward Use.

518

The World's Redeemer, coming to fulfil
All past Predictions of prophetic Quill,—
Who more amidst the Jewish priestly Pride
Than He with all Mosaic Rites complied?
Say, that the Christian Priests are now as bad
As those blind Leaders which the Jews then had;—
Was Zacharias', Simeon's, Anna's Mind,
Any good Priest, or Man or Woman, blind
To offer Incense, or to bear a Part
In Temple Service with an upright Heart?

Can then the Faults of Clergymen or Lay
Destroy Heart-Worship at this present Day?
Will Pray'r, in vain by Pharisees preferr'd,
Not from repenting Publicans be heard?
Will the devout amongst the Christian Flock
Not be accepted, tho' the Priest should mock?
If they do right in their appointed Spheres,
His Want of Truth and Spirit is not Theirs.

Our Lord's Apostles, with an inward View
To reconcile the Gentile and the Jew,
To Faith in Him made ev'ry outward Care
The most subservient to that main Affair.
The greatest Friend to Christian Freedom, Paul,
Intent to save, was “ev'rything to All.”
To keep, whatever Forms should rise or cease,
“Union of Spirit in the Bond of Peace,”

519

Th' Effects of hasty, rash, condemning Zeal
He saw, and mourn'd, and labour'd to repeal.

Succeeding Saints, when Priest or Magistrate
Became tyrannical in Church or State,
Reprov'd their evil Practices, but then
Rever'd the Office, tho' they blam'd the Men.
They gave no Instance of untemper'd Heat
That roots up all before it, Tares or Wheat,—
As if, by humanly invented Care
Of Cultivation, Wheat itself was Tare.
'Tis true, all Sects are grown corrupt enough,
But Zeal so indiscriminately rough
May well give others Reason to suspect
Some want of Knowledge in a Novel Sect
(If such there be) that seems to take a Pride
In satanising all the World beside,
Without the least Authority yet known,
Or Species of Example but its own.

One Mischief is, that its unguarded Terms
Hurt many sober Truths which it affirms.
“Worship in Truth and Spirit” suffers too
By being plac'd in such a hostile View.
“Oh, but all self-will Worshipping is wrong!”—
True; but to whom does that Defect belong?

520

Is the Obedience to a Rule or Guide,
For Order's Sake, fair Proof of such a Pride?
If it be none at all for Men to broach
Rude, harsh and undistinguishing Reproach,
With Resolution to repeat it still,—
Pray, by what Marks are we to know Self-Will?

ON THE FALL OF MAN;

Occasioned by the following Representation of that Event:

—“Neither can it seem strange, that God should lay Stress on such outward Actions, in their own Nature neither good nor evil, when we consider, that in all his Dispensation to Mankind he has done the same. What was it he made the Test of Adam's Obedience in Paradise, but the eating of a Fruit? An Action in itself perfectly indifferent, and from which, if God had not forbidden it, it would have been Superstition to have abstained.” (A Persuasive to Conformity, addressed to the Quakers by John Rogers, D.D., p. 28.)

521

I

Of Man's Obedience, while in Eden blest,
What a mere Trifle is here made the Test,—
An outward Action, in itself defin'd
To be of “perfectly indiff'rent” Kind;
Which, but for God's Forbidding Threat Severe,
It had been “Superstition” to forbear!

II

A strange Account, that neither does nor can
Make any Part of true Religion's Plan,
But must expose it to the Ridicule
Of Scoffers, judging by this crooked Rule!
Its Friends, defending Truth, as they suppose,
Lay themselves open to acuter Foes.

III

To say that “Action neither good nor bad,
From which no Harm in Nature could be had,

522

Was chang'd by Positive, Commanding Will,
Or Threat Forbidding, to a deadly Ill,”
Charges by Consequence the most direct
On God Himself that Ill and its Effect.

IV

Language had surely come to a poor Pass,
Before an Author of distinguish'd Class
For shining Talents could endure to make
In such a Matter such a gross Mistake,—
Could thus derive Death's Origin and Root
From “Adam's eating of an harmless Fruit!”

V

“From Adam's eating?—Did not God forbid
The Taste of it to Adam?”—Yes, He did.—
“And was it harmless, must we understand,
To disobey God's positive Command?”—
No, by no Means; but then the Harm, we see,
Came not from God's Command, but from the Tree!

VI

If He command, the Action must be good;
If He forbid, some Ill is understood.
The Tree, the Fruit, had dreadful Ills conceal'd
Not made by His Forbidding, but reveal'd;
That our first Parents by a true Belief
Might know enough to shun the fatal Grief.

VII

The dire Experience of a World of Woe
Forbidding Mercy will'd them not to know;
Told them what Ill was in the false Desire
Which their free Wills were tempted to admire;

523

That of such Fruit the Eating was “to die.”
Its “harmless” Nature was the Tempter's Lie.

VIII

To urge it now, and to impute the Harm
Of Death and Evil to the kind Alarm
Of God's Command, so justly understood
To will His Creatures Nothing else but Good,
Is for a Babel Fiction to resign
Right Reason, Scripture and the Love Divine.

ON JONATHAN EDWARDS' ENQUIRY CONCERNING FREEWILL.

526

“Jonathan Edwards, by this book's edition,
Appears to be a dry metaphysician.”
(In Mr. N.'s own letter.) — Well might I
Be disappointed by a book so dry,—
So sapless dry,—who cherish no opinion
Of Calvinistic cobwebs, or Arminian!

“To sweep away the last was the design
Of this distinguished, favourite divine,—
His principal intention.”—Be it so;
This was no part of my concern to know,—
No part of my expectancy to find,—
Whose hopes, though faint, were of a diff'rent kind.
Something, I fancied, worth attending to
Might probably enough occur to view
Within a work which so sincere a friend
To what he thought was right did so commend.

If, when for want of time to reconcile
Our thoughts in one short conversation, while
I asked what author he supposed, if read,
Would best explain his notions, he had said,—
“I'll send you one of the New-England sages,
Who in four hundred full octavo pages

527

Has by his dry and metaphysic skill
Demolish'd ev'ry meaning of Free-Will,
But brought in dire Necessity's behoof
Less obvious, less experimental proof,—
Leaving in this attempt the usual way
Of writing which his other books display:”—
Such a description (and his words contain
No less, you see, if suffer'd to speak plain,)
Might have diminish'd the profound surprise
Which in my mind would naturally rise
Without the help of such a previous hint
From dry Enquiry's metaphysic print.

Without disparaging the works unknown,
I really could not relish this, I own;
Nor cease to wonder how your neighbour could
Who had himself said many things so good
In sermons far surpassing, if one looks,
All such polemically wither'd books.—
In this, too oft instead of the divine
The wrangling soph. appears along the line,—
The trifling shuffler of distinctions round;
All sense of words still fashion'd to confound
All obvious thoughts concerning good and ill
Through mere aversion to a man's Free-Will;
Which, oft confess'd in phrases tantamount,
The tedious page still rambles to discount

528

Its metaphysical conceits among,
Dry as the cobwebs which they sweep along.

“The book has been in print for many years,
And yet no answer, 'tis observ'd, appears.”
But would our honest friend consider why,
Its very dryness might forbid reply;
And metaphysics, such as it pursues,
Require some patience even to peruse.
Want of an answer he could scarce object,
Since by their own voluminous defect
Some books may possibly be deem'd too bad
For any formal answer to be had.

But, take the book, who likes it?—Mr. N.
Himself, for me, has much the better pen;
And were his better sense but once untied
From partial systems upon ev'ry side,
He would soon see that gratitude of mind
Did not require God's Grace to be confin'd,
And not to show like favour in like case,
In order more to magnify the Grace;—
As if it wanted, for a foil, to doom
Its equal needers to eternal gloom!
“If I had been,” says he, “but for the pow'r
Of Grace bestow'd, blasphemer to this hour,—
This Grace to me if God is pleas'd to grant,
Not to some others who have equal want,—

529

I am, I think, in equal case of need
Peculiarly favour'd; which indeed
I rather would admire than dispute.
And after all what harm can be the fruit
Of happy change ascribed to Him alone,
And to His Goodness rather than my own?”

Doubtless all praise to God Alone is due
For happy change; but is it therefore true
That this Good God refuses to admit
The change in others, in all points so fit
For such a blessing? Will This Father leave
One child without, that can or will receive?
Is a self-righteousness so much amiss,
That makes man's merit greater than it is,
And a self-favour'dness from danger free
That, clinging to its own peculiar me,
Cries, “God, I thank Thee, that I am supplied
With Grace, to other men like me denied?”

Let Mr. N. consider what is done—
It is his own allusion—by the sun!
Unchang'd itself, it shines with equal day
On equal fitness to receive its ray.
All Calvinistic or Arminian strain
Is cobweb search; a principle so plain
Sets this, on which he goes, in its true light:
“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

530

MISCELLANEOUS PIECES,

CONSISTING OF THOUGHTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, FRAGMENTS, EPIGRAMS, &c.

The Ways of God.

With peaceful Mind thy Race of Duty run;
God Nothing does, or suffers to be done,
But what thou would'st Thyself, if thou could'st see
Through all Events of Things as well as He.

Natural Knowledge and Heavenly Wisdom.

Natural Knowledge is a Moonshine Light,
And dreaming Sages still keep sleeping by't;
But Heav'nly Wisdom like the rising Sun
Awakens Nature,—and good Works are done.

531

Repentance.

Let thy Repentance be without Delay!—
If thou defer it to another Day,
Thou must repent for a Day more of Sin,
While a Day less remains to do it in.

The Cost of being Religious.

To be religious, something it will cost,—
Some Riches, Honours, Pleasures will be lost;
But if thou countest the Sum total o'er,
Not to be so will cost a great deal more.

Works without Love.

He that does Good with an unwilling Mind,
Does that to which he is not well inclin'd.
'Twill be Reward sufficient for the Fact,
If God shall pardon his obedient Act.

Disappointments.

If outward Comforts without real Thought
Of any inward Holiness are sought,
God disappoints us oft,—and kindly too;
To make us holy is His Constant View.

Desire.

Think, and be careful what thou art within;
For there is Sin in the Desire of Sin.
Think, and be thankful, in a diff'rent Case;
For there is Grace in the Desire of Grace.

532

Prayer.

Pray'r does not ask, or want, the Skill and Art
Of forming Words, but a devoted Heart.
If thou art really in a Mind to pray,
God knows thy Heart and all that it would say.

Content.

Content is better, all the Wise will grant,
Than any earthly Good that thou canst want;
And Discontent, with which the Foolish fill
Their Minds, is worse than any earthly Ill.

The Rewards of the Contented.

Two Heav'ns a right contented Man surround,—
One here, and one hereafter, to be found:
One in his own meek Bosom here on Earth,
And one in Abraham's at his future Birth.

533

Faith and Charity.

No Faith towards God can e'er subsist with Wrath
Tow'rds Man, nor Charity with want of Faith.
From the same Root hath each of them it's Growth;
You have not either, if you have not both.

Faith, Hope and Love.

Faith is the burning Ardour of Desire;
Hope is the Light arising from its Fire;
Love is the Spirit That, proceeding thence,
Completes all Virtue in a Christian Sense.

Faith and Works.

Nor Steel nor Flint alone produces Fire;
No Spark arises till they both conspire.
Nor Faith alone, nor Work without, is right;
Salvation rises, when they both unite.

Zeal and Meekness.

Zeal without Meekness like a Ship at Sea
To rising Storms may soon become a Prey;
And Meekness without Zeal is like the same,
When a dead Calm stops every sailing Aim.

Procrastination.

If Gold be offer'd thee, thou dost not say,
“To-morrow I will take it, not To-day.”
Salvation offer'd, why art thou so cool,
To let thyself become To-morrow's Fool?

534

True and False Inspiration.

“An heated Fancy or Imagination
May be mistaken for an Inspiration.”—
True; but is this Conclusion fair to make,
That Inspiration must be all Mistake?
“A Pebble-stone is not a Diamond.”—True;
But must a Diamond be a Pebble too?

Hypocricy.

Hypocrites in Religion form a Plan
That makes them hateful both to God and Man:
By seeming Zeal they lose the World's Esteem,—
And God's, because they are not what they seem.

Abasement.

An humble Man, tho' all the World assault
To pull him down, yet God will still exalt;
Nor can a proud by all the World's Renown
Be lifted up,—for God will pull him down.

The Recompense of Charity.

He is no Fool, who charitably gives
What he can only look at whilst he lives,—
Sure as he is to find, when hence he goes,
A Recompense which he can never lose.

Interest upon Charity.

535

If giving to poor People be to lend
Thy Money to the Lord, who is their Friend,
The highest Int'rest upon Int'rest sure
Is to let out thy Money to the Poor.

The Season for Watching.

When Grief or Joy shall press upon thee hard,
Be then especially upon thy Guard!
Then is most Danger of not acting right;
A calmer State will give a surer Light.

Worldliness.

If we mind nothing but the Body's Pride,
We lose the Body and the Soul beside;
If we have nothing but the Earth in View,
We lose the Earth and Heav'nly Riches too.

Sinners.

“He is a Sinner,” you are pleas'd to say.
Then love him for the Sake of Christ, I pray.
If on his gracious Words you place your Trust,—
“I came to call the Sinners, not the Just,”—
Second his Call; which if you will not do,
You'll be the greater Sinner of the two.

The Spirit of Prayer and Thanksgiving.

Pray'r and Thanksgiving is the vital Breath
That keeps the Spirit of a Man from Death;

536

For Pray'r attracts into the living Soul
The Life That fills the universal Whole;
And giving Thanks is breathing forth again
The Praise of Him Who is the Life of Men.

A Deaf and Dumb God.

To own a God who does not speak to Men,
Is first to own and then disown again;
Of all Idolatry the total Sum
Is having Gods that are both deaf and dumb.

The Love and the Fear of God.

Love does the Good which God commands to do;
Fear shuns the Ill which He prohibits too.
They both describe, tho' by a diff'rent Name,
A Disposition of the Mind the same.

The Mote and the Beam.

I

Why should I be so eager to espy
The Mote that swims upon my Brother's Eye,
And still forget, as if I had not known,
The dark'ning Beam that overspreads my own?

II

O let me play the Hypocrite no more,
But strive to cure my own obstructed Sight;

537

Then shall I see much clearer than before
To set my undiscerning Brother right!

On the Epicurean, Stoic and Christian Philosophy.

I

Three diff'rent Schemes Philosophers assign,—
A Chance, a Fate, a Providence Divine.
Which to embrace of these three sev'ral Views,
Methinks, it is not difficult to choose.

II

For, first: what Wisdom, or what Sense, to cry,
“Things happen as they do,—we know not why?”
Or how are we advanc'd one Jot, to know,
“When Things once are,” that “they must needs be so?”

III

To see such Order, and yet own no Laws,—
Feel such Effects, and yet confess no Cause,—
What can be more extravagant and odd?
He only reasons who believes a God.

An Epigram, On the Blessedness of Divine Love.

Faith, Hope and Love were question'd what they thought
Of future Glory which Religion taught.—
Now, Faith believ'd it firmly to be true,
And Hope expected so to find it too;
Love answer'd, smiling with a conscious Glow:
“Believe? Expect? I know it to be so.”

538

TRANSLATED VERSE.

544

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

BOOK THE FIRST.

Brute Creatures upon Earth enjoy the Store
That Nature yields, and never seek for more.
Sagacious Man, with huge Desire to know
Whence Things, their Causes and Connexions flow,
Takes a vain Course;—Death with black Wing is near,
And stops him in the Midst of his Career.

Why this, if God created naught in vain?
Why should the Mind the Seeds of Heav'n contain,
Not to produce the Fruit? What Profit brings
To search, to understand the Cause of Things,—
Thro' all below, thro' all above, the Sky,
Sun, Moon, and Stars, to penetrate,—and die?

545

If Death be all that follows Life's Parade,
Better to fool with Phyllis in the Shade;
To take the jovial Glass, the merry Dance;
To banish Care—and trust ourselves to Chance!
All Sense of Past, all Fear of future, Day
Let Wine, Diversions, Banquets drive away;
Let Cloë sing, Neæra touch the Lyre,—
Snatch present Joys, nor what's to come enquire!

In vain, alas, the Precept to enjoy;
Scarce do we taste the Pleasures, but they cloy.
Let Trifles, then, be seriously dismiss'd;
Have Wealth as great, or glory as you list,—
Ambition prosperous as it can be,—
Surrounding Crowds attend at your Levee,—
What more you please:—'tis all but one same Call
To cry: “Alas! What Vanity 'tis all!”

Where must we go then? To what friendly Shore?
So, pent in Bodies, Minds would fain explore
Where Truth's eternal Mansions may be found,
Whither (so Nature tells them) they are bound.
Mind was not made for transitory Joys,
But Bliss congenial that no Change destroys,—
Bliss, like itself, for ever to endure.
Take Courage then—the Works of God are sure,
Nor wrought in vain; nor shall the Limits bind
Of this corporeal mortal Clay the Mind!
Clear she shall flourish from terrestrial Stain,—
For ever flourish, free'd from ev'ry Chain;
Her kindred Heav'n th' old Native shall review,
And drink of Truth's eternal Spring anew,—

546

The vital Draught nectareous, and recruit
Her deathless Vigour with perennial Fruit.

Here,—in this Life, if it deserve the Name
This—in the Husk of a corporeal Frame—
Unspread her Wing, unrous'd her vivid Force,
Yet much the Token of her ancient Source,—
How does she so remember, how deduce,
From Things dispos'd such Order and such Use?
So rich a Treasure, so immense a Train,
Corporeal Stowage little could contain,
Less reproduce; such Privilege the Part
Of Mind—Inventress of the various Art—
That taught to needy Life Grace and Defence,
Gave Names to Things, and tied a vocal Sense
To Letters; brought the wild dispersed Clowns
From brutish Rambling to abide in Towns;
Tam'd them by Laws, united by Consent.
What, by all this, but Force Diviner meant,—
But Sense Ethereal, Spirit above Death;
Virtue excited by Celestial Breath?

What Pow'r enlivens eloquent Discourse
To flow, to thunder, with such rapient Force?
Is it not, think ye, more than mortal Fire?
The Bards—what animates their sacred Quire?
For whether Verse well turn'd, canorous, clear,
With varied Sweetness lapse into the Ear,
Or imaging the Truth by Fiction's Aid,
With fabl'd Wonders winningly display'd,
Rove thro' the inmost Heart—the Bard meantime
Breathes nothing little, nothing not sublime.

547

Whilst here on Earth the things that we behold,
All in the same revolving Circle roll'd,
Tell not the Mind that looks for ampler Dues;
The sacred Bard presents sublimer Views,—
A fairer Scene, of ev'ry Wish the Sum,—
The Hope, the Presage of a Life to come.

If skill'd celestial Motions how to solve,
How the huge Planets round the Sun revolve,—
Thro' the vast Void to trace the Comet's Line,
When other Suns on other Planets shine,—
Is not this high, this Heav'n-pervading Mind
Come down from Heav'n, from Heav'n again design'd?

Plain, in these Efforts of the Mind to see
A Force innate, from Dregs material free;
Self-conscious Will too, Love and Hatred shown,
Fear, Hope, Joy, Grief, are plainly all her own,—
No lumpish Properties; she can compare
Or sep'rate things by merely mental Care;
Can gather distant Truths and reunite
The scatter'd Portions in one friendly Light:
Draw hence the Cause of Things and the Design,
And in fair Order Arts with Arts combine,
More near to Truth still rising and more near,
Till the whole causal Serïes appear.
The Chain descending from th' Almighty's Throne,
From Heav'n to Earth—Ideas, too, her own—
She can inspect, and inward Notice take
Whence, how, they rise—and almost know her Make.

Is Pow'r corporeal such? Machines, do they
Know their own Strength, or on what Food to prey?

548

For Body is but mere Machine alone,
Mov'd by external Impulse—not its own.

Judge not by vulgar Men the noble Mind,
But such as Worth to future Praise consign'd;
As Rome or Greece,—ev'n now illustrious dead—
Or England, unsurpass'd by either, bred;—
The Nurse of Heroes, in her better Times,
What Bards have blest her with diviner Rimes;
With Laws what Sages; how many renown'd
For Eloquence, for Science, has she found,
Tho' brought to Light by Culture late begun;
When Bacon, rising like th' ethereal Sun,
First taught the Path of Arts,—first made appear
Philosophy from idle Figments clear;
And tracing Step by Step the faithful Ray,
Where the sure Guide Experience led the Way,
To Newton, born her Treasures to command,
He show'd the Track and gave the Torch in Hand!

Illustrious Souls! May your Example move
Britannia's Sons still further to improve;
To high Attempts th' awaken'd Mind to raise,
And by true Virtue merit ancient Praise!

Not without Heav'n, with Genius so sublime,
Could Man be born;—but God, in ev'ry Time,
Has here and there, like Stars amidst the Night,
Besprinkl'd Minds of more Resplendent Light;
That a degen'rate Age might catch the Flame
And own from what High Origin Man came.

549

Besides, a Something for us is confest,
When we are dead, in ev'ry conscious Breast;
'Tis shown within 'tis ancient Learning's Thought;
'Tis public Voice—no Nation so untaught
As all beyond the Grave to disregard!
Hence Oaks, slow-growing, posthumous Reward,
Are sown for Grandsons' Profit; hence appears
The Pyramid that braves the gazing Years;
Hence all the Care about a living Name,
When Men are dead; so valued future Fame,
That who excels in any Thing will run
Thro' evr'y Danger, no Fatigue will shun,
If only some fair Prospect of Renown
Flatter, from Age to Age descending down!
Do not we see that Convicts, doom'd to die,
Confess their Guilt, sometimes perhaps deny
At instant Death—why willing, or why loth?
The Future only can account for both;
While Penitents discern, and dread the Lot,
The harden'd Rogue has all but Fame forgot:
'Tis Nature's Instinct, or obscure or plain,
Of more than Dust and Ashes to remain!

Why about Funerals such anxious Care
What means of Tombs the operose Affair?
Some lay the bloodless Carcass in the Ground,
And deck the Grove with Flow'rs, each annual Round
Renewing Rites that Ashes scarce require,—
Some rear the Pile, and burn it in the Fire;
Then place the Relics of the Friend they burn
To last for Ages in the faithful Urn.

550

Where Nile's rich Flood the fertile Grounds o'erflow'd,
Neither to burn nor bury was the Mode.
They fill'd th' unbowell'd Chest and emptied Scull
With thick, bituminous Confection full;
In spicy Pitch when thus embalm'd they roll'd
The Corpse with close drawn Fillets, many a Fold;
Preserv'd the Shape, or what they could at least,
And on the Surface pictur'd the Deceas'd.
Such inbred Hope and Trust in Men alive,
That something after Death is to survive;
One Truth exprest by ev'ry outward Art:
Nor Time, nor Fate, can kill our better Part.

See in the Realms where Indian Ganges rolls
A Race of Men with too too eager Souls,
Of Life impatient, rush into the Fire,
Or at their Idol Shrines from Life retire.
Tho' blind, to Hopes of quiet Seats they run
Of Spring perpetual and unclouded Sun.

Not less renown'd in Fame, the Eastern Wives
To their dead Husbands sacrifice their Lives.
Their Loss no womanish Complaint proclaims;
They mount the Pile, and join them in the Flames:
Each hopes, Companion to her dear-lov'd Spouse
In other Regions to renew her Vows.

See in the North with equal Ardour glow
Unconquer'd Nations in eternal Snow;
Whom, with untam'd Contempt of Living fierce,
Nor Foe can vanquish nor can War coerce!
They love their Country,—Love's Reward their Aim,
Thro' Fires and Swords they push the patriot claim.

551

Add what old Times of Fields Elysian spake,
Of Phlegethontic Wave and Stygian Lake,—
Fictions of Priestly Fraud—be that the Case;
'Twas inbred Notice that gave Fraud a Place;
Sure of the Future tho' imperfect View,
All Fiction builds on Something that is true.

Because 'tis difficult to think of Mind
From Body and from grosser Sense disjoin'd,
Corporeal Form to it the Vulgar give,
And Looks, and Limbs, and Place wherein to live,—
To wonted Likeness fashioning their Schemes;
Which others holding for delirious Dreams,
(The How not known of its surviving state)
Deem it extinguish'd by one common Fate,—
Or that they care not for much Cost of Thought,
Or shame to own their Ignorance of aught!
If true from false not easy to discern,
Shake off all Sloth then, nor refuse to learn,
For any Tales that Fraud has interspers'd
Or some vain Poets petulantly vers'd!

What! Is not God's Existence own'd by all,—
Consent, which rightly Nature's Voice they call?
And yet, what false unworthy Notions fram'd,—
Sex, Passions, Vices; Gods a Number nam'd;
Scarce any Object of their Hopes or Fears
But what Men deified in former years!
Such as they lik'd for Gods propitious pass'd,
Sinistrous else; till Madness, at the last,

552

With reptile Deities their Temples stor'd,
And even Leeks and Onions were ador'd.

Pond'ring these Ills, the great Athenian Sage
Foretold His Coming in the destin'd Age,
(He came, desir'd; the Nations, since He came,
The Help and Advent of a God proclaim)
Whose Divine Light should give dark Minds the Day
Guide them to Truth and mark the certain Way.

Meanwhile, full many Signs of Truth to Sight
Had Nature shown, tho' through obscurer Light.
Let us then, see how far Conjectures rise,
Nor Reasons Help, if it can give, despise!

Body and Mind agree, I don't deny,
In many Things—it is their mutual Tie:
But Mind in many differs, that define
Her Nature different and her Race Divine.

We often see to Body firm and strong,
Healthy, robust, a feeble Mind belong;

553

To weak, full oft one of surprising Force;
If Death together kill them both, of Course
They both should sicken in the same Degree,—
Reverse again of what we often see;
That, when Death comes, the cold approaching Hour
Sharpens the Mind and warms with entheous Pow'r.
What Eloquence have dying Men, what Fire!
They speak prophetic Words—and then expire.

If Mind like Body elemental, whence,
Tho' Sleep shut up the Inlets of all Sense,
Without external Objects can the Mind
On inward Scenes expatiate unconfined;
Just as a Bird, uncag'd, takes Wing to fly,
Mounts upward and exults in open Sky?

Mind of corporeal Nature, it is plain,
Must Parts in Number infinite contain,
Each one of which will have its Sense and Soul,
And many diff'rent Minds distract the Whole.
In such a System, grant it to exist,
Say how can Truth and Equity subsist,—
How Life's one Tenor in the jarring Host,
And this same conscious Virtue that we boast?

Perhaps this Mind, this Matter's Force occult,
May from its Figure and its Site result?
As if the Square was wiser than the Round!
Parts you may add, diminish, or compound;
But Site, and Figure, for the mental Track
No more accounts than Colour, white or black.

Motion may do't—what will not Motion do?
Yes—Reason, Speech, and Will, and Wisdom too,

554

Is all but Rope and Pulley—proper Size,—
And last, his Top, the Lad will make it wise!
So will the Liquor, boiling in the Pot,
With flowing Eloquence grow richly hot.
But whence comes Motion? Mind is the one Thing,
Not passive Body, that is Motion's Spring:
As God the World, so its corporeal Frame
Mind agitates, and inward moving Aim.

Cease then to wonder, when the Body's gone,
That living Mind continues to live on!
What Death, I rather wonder, with what Darts,
Can e'er destroy it, since it has no Parts?
It cannot perish by external Blow;
It is the Mover of itself, we know;
And that which Motion to itself can give,
Leaves not itself—it must for ever live.

But who can well conceive a Thing to be,
From certain Shape and Situation free?
What then is Deity? The Mind Divine,
Far as we know, no Figure can confine
Or Place contain,—unless you will suppose
That God Himself is Matter;—if He knows,
Pure Simple Spirit, Grossness of no Kind,
No more does God's fair Image, human Mind.
Mark its Self-Pollency; what greater Sign
Of Breath Ethereal, Progeny Divine?
Ev'n here, while tether'd to this mortal Shape,
Oft, on the Stretch, it meditates Escape;
Like a strange Guest on Earth, from foreign Ties
Springs up and longs to reach its native Skies.

555

Go now, admire a World of fading Things;
Fly, busy Insect, with thy gilded Wings;
Feed on its Dews and flutter in its Air;
Soon to be Nothing, of aught else despair!
Is this the whole of Life,—thus void of Hope,
Of all its flatt'ring Promise this the Scope?
How much more real that, that Life of Man,
Where truth at once discovers all its Plan;
Not by Degrees, thro' long Deductions drawn,
Clear Intuition sees the cloudless Dawn!

You'll say, perhaps, that Mind to Body link'd
Cannot perceive when Senses are extinct;
With them it grows, and ceases when they cease;—
How then gives Mind to Senses an Increase?
For their Defect by Help of Art it clears;
And Eyes to Eyes it adds, and Ears to Ears.

Hence, higher rais'd than human Lot's Purlieu,
It calls the Stars of Heav'n to nearer View;
Great Earth's hid Treasures mast'ring, it descries,
And pores in Systems too minute for Eyes;
New Worlds of Wonder Wit brings forth to Light,
And mends the Seeing with superior Sight;
Of Form, and Bulk, and Distance it decides,
And judges rightly, where the Sense misguides.
Shows not all this a Pow'r from Sense sejunct,—
Ethereal Science? Body then defunct,
These short Excursions indicate the Mind,
For more unbounded Range of Truth design'd.

How will it be?—That Knowledge is to come,
No Part of ours; the Life within the Womb,

556

Know you what 'twas? Knows he that was born blind
Delights of Colour?—No; but he can find
That others know them, tho' himself does not.
So knows the Mind in this her present Lot,
Amidst the Scenes unequal to her Care,
That some unknown, eternal Forms, and fair,
Are shown to Minds more vig'rous and sublime;
To these she gives her Wishes, and her Time.
Fine Beauty's Absence, absent, she deplores,
And smit with secret, conscious Love adores;
Shuns human Haunts and seeks the silent Wood,
To meditate alone th' Eternal Good;
To sooth her Cares with Thought of future Things
And Verse, to make them present while she sings.

That Man I reckon to have liv'd indeed,
Who having seen how all Things here proceed,
With equal Mind and constantly good Aim
Returns, contented Guest, to whence he came.
Whether you count an hundred Years or few,
The same old Scenes come round and round anew.
The World has nothing better to bestow;
Deem then this transitory State below
A public Market or a Spacious Inn;
Where for a while when floating Life has been
With Cares and Trifles tost of ev'ry Sort,
Who leaves it first, is first got into Port!
Haste thither then; contract the daring Sail;
Steer into Harbour, lest Provisions fail;
Haste! The Disease, the Death of the dear Friend,
Th' infirm old Age,—what Ills on Life attend!

Where do I run? We must and ought to stay,
Till He Who plac'd us here, call hence away.
Thro' Hopes, thro' Fears, this Leader we can trust;
He bids us bear—and therefore bear we must.

557

But, were I sure that this poor Life was all,
My eager Wish would be a sudden Call
To go where sooner, later, from the Stage
All Actors drop,—to sleep an endless Age.
Nay, Youth renew'd, if it were giv'n to choose,
Or cradl'd Infancy, I would refuse.

Not all the Blessings of the Life, not Health,
Wit, Elocution, Prudence, Manners, Wealth,
Unenvied Honour, num'rous Issue, known
Both by their Fathers Virtues and their own;—

Not for all this Reward would I compound
To run again a Race of mortal Round!
The Mind's Expectance just as well as high
Nothing can equal;—that can never die.