The Minor Poems of Joseph Beaumont ... Edited from the autograph manuscript with introduction and notes by Eloise Robinson |
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Anniversarium Baptismi
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 | The Minor Poems of Joseph Beaumont |  |
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Anniversarium Baptismi
Mar: 21. 1649.
1
O deer & memorable Day to Me,From which I count my Christianitie!
Eight Days I breath'd, but did not live,
Bycause I onely was what I was Born;
But Thou a blessed check didst give
To my sad Fate, & me with Life adorn.
2
That mighty Deluge which its fury hurldBeyond all Shores, & wrack'd the anchient World,
Bury'd not Mortals in so deep
A Death, but the Baptismal Flood in more
Assured Life their Soules doth steep,
And roll them to Eternities high Shore.
3
Thus at this truelyest-living Fountains HeadI into holy Life was Buryed:
And had I kept that Purity
Which in that liquid Sepulchre I found,
Not Death it self could make me dy
Who was Eternal by thus being Drownd.
384
4
But foolish I would needs be padling inThe lazie filthly Lakes of nasty Sin;
Till I had staind my careless Heart
With poisnous Spotts, which like Plague-tokens seald
Me for my Grave: Nor could the Art
Of Man or Angel cure or comfort yeild.
5
O no! a LORD HAVE MERCY ON ME, wasThe onely Charm in that infected case:
And so is still; for nothing but
The soverain Power of MERCY can asswage
Sinns strong Contagion, & put
Eases soft chains on my Diseases rage.
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