Iter boreale With large additions of several other poems: being an exact collection of all hitherto extant. Never before published together. The author R. Wild |
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UPON The Learned Works of the Reverend DIVINE Ed. Reynolds, D. D. |
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UPON The Learned Works of the Reverend DIVINE Ed. Reynolds, D. D.
Reader, who e're thou art, here thou maist findWithin these Works, a rare, rich, glorious mind
Of Golden Precepts, which, alike, do shew
What's thy D stemper how to cure it too:
Do pains oppress thy Body? Sorrow Mind?
Draw near to God, Pray'r will acceptance find;
And then no doubt, he'll grant, thy Bodies Grief
May bring thy sinking soul some small Relief.
Do Passions over-top thy will? beware,
Virtue consists not in so high a Sphere:
If thou the Golden Medium wilt find,
Shun thou too high, and too too low a mind.
Pleasures are gilded Nothings, which like bubbles fly,
Swoln big with Emptiness so burst and die.
Do darkest times of ignorance draw near?
The rather view these weighty Lines: nor fear,
Nor wonder much at this resplendent Light:
Diamonds shine brightest in the darkest night.
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The rich, rare, Gospel Jewel: O then why
Art thou so backward, since that thou mayst make
This Gem thine own, yea, at a cheaper rate?
The foolish Virgins, when their Lord of Light
Past by, their lights were out: So that eternal night
Was their reward, and just, for they that deem
Pains cost of greater worth, shall ne'r be seen
Within his Courts, who is great, good, and just.
Is Folly thus repaid? Reader, we must
Look that it ne'r be said of thee or I,
That our Neglect should cause our light to die.
R. W.
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