Divinity and Morality in Robes of Poetry Composed for the Recreations of the Courteous and Ingenious. By the Author Tho. Jordan |
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 | Divinity and Morality in Robes of Poetry |  |
The New years Gift.
A new Soul blanch'd in sin-dissolving tears,And pious promises for future years,
Possess your mortal Mansion, may no Times
Witness the guilt of our re-acted crimes:
May you disband your bosom Sins, and be
Atton'd with God's immortal Monarchy:
Although each day ye pay (in sighs and groans)
Your penitential contributions:
May the red Rain vvhich our rude vvrath let fall
In num'rous showres of vengeance National,
Be all wash'd out, and may Religious fame
In England, bear but one celestial Name:
May all those desperate distinctions that
Have made out Island much unfortunate,
Be so composed by Religious Laws,
That rigour may no more dispute the Cause:
For (I confess to my intelligence,
That hath relation but to common sense)
Holy and Learned in large Misteries,
Of Church and State, that in convention sit
Crown'd with the Genius of a Nation's wit,
With all the aids that Art and Nature can
Contract within the circuit of man,
Should flight the Helm and let the peoples fate
Be left unto the rageing stormes of state;
Such is a Civil War, whose fury vents
Artillery, instead of Arguments;
As if the Holy Ghost (Spirit of Love)
That once descended like a Turtle Dove:
Should now resigne his function, and appeare
Like a devouring Vulture: may this yeare
Register no such Apparitions, but
May all tranquility (that God e're put
Into the Power of Union, on a Nation
Receiv'd to Grace by true Humiliation)
Fall on your Souls, may a New Spring of tears
Renew your Graces, Health, Wealth, Beauty, Years:
And may your fair Posterity nere know
The wild Confusion of our moderne woe;
May Peace and verity (conjoyn'd in Glory)
Crown the Conclusion of our tragick Story,
May Schism sink, and Truth be held supream,
(Whose Robe of Sanctity hath nere a seam)
And let that foole which well deserves the Rod,
For saying in his heart there is no God;
Be better principl'd, for he speakes Treason,
Not onely 'gainst Religion but Reason:
That curious heresies (so hotly held)
May be display'd, for then the radiant Bèams
Of righteousness vvill dissipate their dreams.
Let nothing enter in your hearts, but vvhat
The Holy Spirit doth communicate
By sacred Law and Gospel; vvhat is vvrit
In them, vve must obey, vvhat not, omit:
May you be charitable, yet live free
From my Popish censure; may you be
Fil'd with firm faith, not that vvhich yeelds the Turks
Preheminence, before ye in good werks:
May you believe, God's stock of mercy is
Larger then all mens crimes, yet let not this
Possess ye vvith such vvarrant of salvation,
To think one sin may not destroy a Nation:
May you believe that the Apostles Creed
(Which some late Novelists forbear to read)
Is of such povver, that you vvithout it are
Farther from bliss, then Saints from Civil War.
Let God's ovvn Prayer be your daily task,
For it contains all that vve ought to ask:
Those deprecations sum up every want,
And vvhatsoever God is pleas'd to grant:
Sure that Petition cannot be ill vvrit,
When he that made it, means to answer it.
Let the bright Gospels Exposition be
A Lock and Key to its ovvn mystery:
What Scripture hath begun, let Scripture finish,
Who comments false, doth both add and diminish;
From such transgression, may Divinity
Illuminate your Intellect; may no
Fallacious disputations overthrow
The Pillars of your Piety, or make
The Fundamentals of your Faith to shake.
When these effects (for which I pray) appear,
You will confess it is a good New-year;
For if all come to pass which I have said,
'Tis the best New years-Gift that e're you had.
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