The poetical works of Thomas Traherne :: :: University of Virginia Library

The poetical works of Thomas Traherne

faithfully reprinted from the author's original manuscript together with Poems of Felicity reprinted from the Burney manuscript and Poems from Various Sources: Edited with preface and notes by Gladys I. Wade

Traherne, Thomas

PART ONE POEMS FROM THE DOBELL FOLIO MS.

II.

[Ye hidden Nectars, which my GOD doth drink]

III.

IV.

PART TWO POEMS FROM THE BURNEY MS.

PART THREE POEMS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES

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1. PART ONE POEMS FROM THE DOBELL FOLIO MS.

The Salutation.

1

These little Limmes,
These Eys and Hands which here I find,
These rosie Cheeks wherwith my Life begins,
Where have ye been? Behind
What Curtain were ye from me hid so long!
Where was? in what Abyss, my Speaking Tongue?

2

When silent I,
So many thousand thousand yeers,
Beneath the Dust did in a Chaos lie,
How could I Smiles or Tears,
Or Lips or Hands or Eys or Ears perceiv?
Welcom ye Treasures which I now receiv.

3

I that so long
Was Nothing from Eternitie,
Did little think such Joys as Ear or Tongue,
To Celebrat or See:
Such Sounds to hear, such Hands to feel, such Feet,
Beneath the Skies, on such a Ground to meet.

4

New Burnisht Joys!
Which yellow Gold and Pearl excell!
Such Sacred Treasures are the Lims in Boys,
In which a Soul doth Dwell;
Their Organized Joynts, and Azure Veins
More Wealth include, then all the World contains.

5

From Dust I rise,
And out of Nothing now awake,
These Brighter Regions which salute mine Eys,
A Gift from GOD I take.
The Earth, the Seas, the Light, the Day, the Skies,
The Sun and Stars are mine; if those I prize.

6

Long time before
I in my Mother's Womb was born,
A GOD preparing did this Glorious Store,
The World for me adorne.
Into this Eden so Divine and fair,
So Wide and Bright, I com his Son and Heir.

7

A Stranger here
Strange Things doth meet, Strange Glories See;
Strange Treasures lodg'd in this fair World appear,
Strange all, and New to me.
But that they mine should be, who nothing was,
That Strangest is of all, yet brought to pass.

Wonder.

1

How like an Angel came I down!
How Bright are all Things here!
When first among his Works I did appear
O how their GLORY me did Crown?
The World resembled his Eternitie,
In which my Soul did Walk;
And evry Thing that I did see,
Did with me talk.

2

The Skies in their Magnificence,
The Lively, Lovely Air;
Oh how Divine, how Soft, how Sweet, how fair!
The Stars did entertain my Sence,
And all the Works of GOD so Bright and pure,
So Rich and Great did seem,
As if they ever must endure,
In my Esteem.

3

A Native Health and Innocence
Within my Bones did grow,
And while my GOD did all his Glories shew,
I felt a Vigour in my Sence
That was all SPIRIT. I within did flow
With Seas of Life, like Wine;
I nothing in the World did know,
But 'twas Divine.

4

Harsh ragged Objects were conceald,
Oppressions Tears and Cries,
Sins, Griefs, Complaints, Dissentions, Weeping Eys,
Were hid: and only Things reveald,
Which Heav'nly Spirits, and the Angels prize.
The State of Innocence
And Bliss, not Trades and Poverties,
Did fill my Sence.

5

The Streets were pavd with Golden Stones,
The Boys and Girles were mine,
Oh how did all their Lovly faces shine!
The Sons of Men were Holy Ones.
In Joy, and Beauty, then appear'd to me,
And evry Thing which here I found,
While like an Angel I did See,
Adornd the Ground.

6

Rich Diamond and Pearl and Gold
In evry Place was seen;
Rare Splendors, Yellow, Blew, Red, White and Green,
Mine Eys did evry where behold.
Great Wonders clothd with Glory did appear,
Amazement was my Bliss.
That and my Wealth was evry where:
No Joy to this!

7

Cursd and Devisd Proprieties,
With Envy, Avarice
And Fraud, those Feinds that Spoyl even Paradice,
Fled from the Splendor of mine Eys.

And so did Hedges, Ditches, Limits, Bounds,
I dreamd not ought of those,
But wanderd over all mens Grounds,
And found Repose.

8

Properties themselvs were mine,
And Hedges Ornaments;
Walls, Boxes, Coffers, and their rich Contents
Did not Divide my Joys, but all combine.
Clothes, Ribbans, Jewels, Laces, I esteemd
My Joys by others worn;
For me they all to wear them seemd
When I was born.

Eden.

1

A learned and a Happy Ignorance
Divided me,
From all the Vanitie,
From all the Sloth Care Pain and Sorrow that advance,
The Madness and the Miserie
Of Men. No Error, no Distraction I
Saw soil the Earth, or overcloud the Skie.

2

I knew not that there was a Serpents Sting,
Whose Poyson shed
On Men, did overspread
The World: not did I Dream of such a Thing
As Sin; in which Mankind lay Dead.
They all were Brisk and Living Weights to me,
Yea Pure, and full of Immortalitie.

3

Joy, Pleasure, Beauty, Kindness, Glory, Lov,
Sleep, Day, Life, Light,
Peace, Melody, my Sight,
My Ears and Heart did fill, and freely mov.
All that I saw did me Delight.
The Universe was then a World of Treasure,
To me an Universal World of Pleasure.

4

Unwelcom Penitence was then unknown
Vain Costly Toys,
Swearing and Roaring Boys,
Shops, Markets, Taverns, Coaches were unshewn;
So all things were that Drownd my Joys.
No Thorns choakt up my Path, nor hid the face
Of Bliss and Beauty, nor Ecclypst the place.

5

Only what Adam in his first Estate,
Did I behold;
Hard Silver and Drie Gold
As yet lay under Ground; my Blessed Fate
Was more acquainted with the Old
And Innocent Delights, which he did see
In his Original Simplicitie.

6

Those Things which first his Eden did adorn,
My Infancy
Did crown. Simplicitie
Was my Protection when I first was born.
Mine Eys those Treasures first did see,
Which God first made. The first Effects of Lov
My first Enjoyments upon Earth did prov;

7

And were so Great, and so Divine, so Pure;
So fair and Sweet,
So True; when I did meet
Them here at first, they did my Soul allure,
And drew away my Infant feet
Quite from the Works of Men; that I might see
The Glorious Wonders of the DEITIE.

Innocence.

1

But that which most I Wonder at, which most
I did esteem my Bliss, which most I Boast,
And ever shall Enjoy, is that within
I felt no Stain, nor Spot of Sin.

No Darkness then did overshade,
But all within was Pure and Bright,
No Guilt did Crush, nor fear invade
But all my Soul was full of Light.

A Joyfull Sence and Puritie
Is all I can remember.
The very Night to me was Bright,
Twas Summer in December.

2

A Serious Meditation did employ
My Soul within, which taken up with Joy
Did seem no Outward thing to note, but flie
All Objects that do feed the Eye.

While it those very Objects did
Admire, and prize, and prais, and love,
Which in their Glory most are hid,
Which Presence only doth remove.

Their Constant Daily Presence I
Rejoycing at, did see;
And that which takes them from the Ey
Of others, offerd them to me.

3

No inward Inclination did I feel
To Avarice or Pride: My Soul did kneel
In Admiration all the Day. No Lust, nor Strife,
Polluted then my Infant Life.

No Fraud nor Anger in me movd
No Malice Jealousie or Spite;
All that I saw I truly lovd.
Contentment only and Delight

Were in my Soul. O Heav'n! what Bliss
Did I enjoy and feel!
What Powerfull Delight did this
Inspire! for this I daily Kneel.

4

Whether it be that Nature is so pure,
And Custom only vicious; or that sure
God did by Miracle the Guilt remov,
And make my Soul to feel his Lov,

So Early: Or that 'twas one Day,
Wher in this Happiness I found;
Whose Strength and Brightness so do Ray,
That still it seems me to Surround.

What ere it is, it is a Light
So Endless unto me
That I a World of true Delight
Did then and to this Day do see.

5

That Prospect was the Gate of Heav'n, that Day
The ancient Light of Eden did convey
Into my Soul: I was an Adam there,
A little Adam in a Sphere

Of Joys! O there my Ravisht Sence
Was entertaind in Paradice,
And had a Sight of Innocence.
Which was beyond all Bound and Price.

An Antepast of Heaven sure!
I on the Earth did reign.
Within, without me, all was pure.
I must becom a Child again.

The Preparative.

1

My Body being Dead, my Lims unknown;
Before I skild to prize
Those living Stars mine Eys,
Before my Tongue or Cheeks were to me shewn,
Before I knew my Hands were mine,
Or that my Sinews did my Members joyn,
When neither Nostril, Foot, nor Ear,
As yet was seen, or felt, or did appear;
I was within
A House I knew not, newly clothd with Skin.

2

Then was my Soul my only All to me,
A Living Endless Ey,
Just bounded with the Skie
Whose Power, whose Act, whose Essence was to see.
I was an Inward Sphere of Light,
Or an Interminable Orb of Sight,
An Endless and a Living Day,
A vital Sun that round about did ray
All Life, all Sence,
A Naked Simple Pure Intelligence.

3

I then no Thirst nor Hunger did perceiv,
No dull Necessity,
No Want was Known to me;
Without Disturbance then I did receiv
The fair Ideas of all Things,
And had the Hony even without the Stings.
A Meditating Inward Ey
Gazing at Quiet did within me lie,
And evry Thing
Delighted me that was their Heavnly King.

4

For Sight inherits Beauty, Hearing Sounds,
The Nostril Sweet Perfumes,
All Tastes have hidden Rooms
Within the Tongue; and Feeling Feeling Wounds
With Pleasure and Delight: but I
Forgot the rest, and was all Sight, or Ey.
Unbodied and Devoid of Care,
Just as in Heavn the Holy Angels are.
For Simple Sence
Is Lord of all Created Excellence.

5

Being thus prepard for all Felicity,
Not prepossest with Dross,
Nor stifly glued to gross
And dull Materials that might ruine me,
Not fetterd by an Iron Fate
With vain Affections in my Earthy State
To any thing that might Seduce
My Sence, or els bereave it of its use
I was as free
As if there were nor Sin, nor Miserie.

6

Pure Empty Powers that did nothing loath,
Did like the fairest Glass,
Or Spotless polisht Brass,
Themselvs soon in their Objects Image cloath.
Divine Impressions when they came,
Did quickly enter and my Soul inflame.
Tis not the Object, but the Light
That maketh Heaven; Tis a Purer Sight.
Felicitie
Appears to none but them that purely see.

7

A Disentangled and a Naked Sence
A Mind that's unpossest,
A Disengaged Brest,
An Empty and a Quick Intelligence
Acquainted with the Golden Mean,
An Even Spirit Pure and Serene,
Is that where Beauty, Excellence,
And Pleasure keep their Court of Residence.
My Soul retire,
Get free, and so thou shalt even all Admire.

The Instruction.

1

Spue out thy filth, thy flesh abjure;
Let not Contingents thee defile.
For Transients only are impure,
And Aery things thy soul beguil.

2

Unfelt, unseen let those things be
Which to thy Spirit were unknown,
When to thy Blessed Infancy
The World, thy Self, thy God was shewn.

3

All that is Great and Stable stood
Before thy Purer Eys at first:
All that in Visibles is Good
Or pure, or fair, or unaccurst.

4

Whatever els thou now dost see
In Custom, Action, or Desire,
Tis but a Part of Miserie
In which all Men at once conspire.

The Vision.

1

Flight is but the Preparative: The Sight
Is Deep and Infinit;
Ah me! tis all the Glory, Love, Light, Space,
Joy Beauty and Varietie

That doth adorn the Godheads Dwelling Place
Tis all that Ey can see.
Even Trades them selvs seen in Celestial Light,
And Cares and Sins and Woes are Bright.

2

Order the Beauty even of Beauty is,
It is the Rule of Bliss,
The very Life and Form and Caus of Pleasure;
Which if we do not understand,
Ten thousand Heaps of vain confused Treasure
Will but oppress the Land.
In Blessedness it self we that shall miss
Being Blind which is the Caus of Bliss.

3

First then behold the World as thine, and well
Note that where thou dost Dwell.
See all the Beauty of the Spacious Case,
Lift up thy pleasd and ravisht Eys,
Admire the Glory of the Heavnly place,
And all its Blessings prize.
That Sight well seen thy Spirit shall prepare,
The first makes all the other Rare.

4

Mens Woes shall be but foyls unto thy Bliss,
Thou once Enjoying this:
Trades shall adorn and Beautify the Earth,
Their Ignorance shall make thee Bright,

Were not their Griefs Democritus his Mirth?
Their Faults shall keep thee right.
All shall be thine, becaus they all Conspire,
To feed and make they Glory higher.

5

To see a Glorious Fountain and an End
To see all Creatures tend
To thy Advancement, and so sweetly close
In thy Repose: To see them shine
In Use in Worth in Service, and even Foes
Among the rest made thine.
To see all these unite at once in Thee
Is to behold Felicitie.

6

To see the Fountain is a Blessed Thing.
It is to see the King
Of Glory face to face: But yet the End,
The Glorious Wondrous End is more;
And yet the fountain there we Comprehend,
The Spring we there adore.
For in the End the Fountain best is Shewn,
As by Effects the Caus is Known.

7

From One, to One, in one to see All Things
To see the King of Kings
But once in two; to see his Endless Treasures
Made all mine own, my self the End
Of all his Labors! Tis the Life of Pleasures!
To see my self His friend!
Who all things finds conjoynd in Him alone,
Sees and Enjoys the Holy one.

The Rapture.

1

Sweet Infancy!
O fire of Heaven! O Sacred Light!
How Fair and Bright!
How Great am I,
Whom all the World doth magnifie!

2

O Heavenly Joy!
O Great and Sacred Blessedness,
Which I possess!
So great a Joy
Who did into my Armes convey!

3

From GOD abov
Being sent, the Heavens me enflame,
To prais his Name.
The Stars do move!
The Burning Sun doth shew his Love.

4

O how Divine
Am I! To all this Sacred Wealth,
This Life and Health,
Who raisd? Who mine
Did make the same? What Hand Divine

The Improvment.

1

Tis more to recollect, then make. The one
Is but an Accident without the other.
We cannot think the World to be the Throne,
Of God, unless his Wisdom shine as Brother
Unto his Power, in the Fabrick, so
That we the one may in the other know.

2

His Goodness also must in both appear,
And all the Children of his Lov be found,
In the Creation of the Starry Sphere,
And in the Forming of the fruitfull Ground;
Before we can that Happiness descrie,
Which is the Daughter of the DEITIE.

3

His Wisdom Shines in Spreading forth the Skie,
His Power's Great in Ordering the Sun,
His Goodness very Marvellous and High
Appears, in evry Work his Hand hath done.
And all his Works in their varietie,
United or asunder pleas the Eye.

4

But neither Goodness, Wisdom, Power, nor Love,
Nor Happiness it self in things could be,
Did not they all in one fair Order move,
And joyntly by their Service End in me.
Had he not made an Ey to be the Sphere
Of all Things, none of these would e're appear.

5

His Wisdom, Goodness, Power, as they unite
All things in one, that they may be the Treasures
Of one Enjoy'r, shine in the utmost Height
They can attain; and are most Glorious Pleasures,
When all the Univers conjoynd in one,
Exalts a Creature, as if that alone.

6

To bring the Moisture of far distant Seas
Into a point, to make them present here,
In virtu, not in Bulk; one man to pleas
With all the Powers of the Highest Sphere,
From East, from West, from North and South, to bring
The pleasing Influence of evry thing;

7

Is far more Great then to Creat them there
Where now they stand; His Wisdom more doth shine
In that, his Might and Goodness more appear,
In recollecting; He is more Divine
In making evry Thing a Gift to one
Then in the sev'ral Parts of all his Wide Throne.

8

Herein we see a Marvellous Designe,
And apprehending Clearly the Great Skill
Of that Great Architect, whose Lov doth shine
In all his Works, we find his Life and Will.
For lively Counsels do the Godhead shew,
And these his Lov and Goodness make us know.

9

By Wise Contrivance he doth all things guid,
And so dispose them, that while they unite,
For Man he Endless Pleasures doth Provide,
And shews that Happiness is his Delight,
His Creatures Happiness as well as His:
For that in Truth he seeks, and tis his Bliss.

10

O Rapture! Wonder! Extasie! Delight!
How Great must then his Glory be, how Great
Our Blessedness! How vast and Infinit
Our Pleasure, how Transcendent, how compleat,
If we the Goodness of our God possess,
And all His Joy be in our Blessedness!

11

Almighty Power when it is employd
For one, that he with Glory might be Crownd;
Eternal Wisdom when it is Enjoyd
By one, whom all its Pleasures do surround,
Produce a Creature, that must, all his Days,
Return the Sacrifice of Endless Prais.

12

But Oh! the vigor of mine Infant Sence
Drives me too far: I had not yet the Eye
The Apprehension, or Intelligence
Of Things so very Great Divine and High.
But all things were Eternal unto me,
And mine, and Pleasing which mine Ey did see.

13

That was enough at first: Eternitie,
Infinity, and Lov were Silent Joys;
Power, Wisdom, Goodness and Felicitie;
All these which now our Care and Sin destroys,
By Instinct virtualy were well discernd,
And by their Representatives were learnd.

14

As Spunges gather Moisture from the Earth
Wheron there is scarce any Sign of Dew;
As Air infecteth Salt; so at my Birth
All these were unperceivd, yet near and tru:
Not by Reflexion, and Distinctly known,
But, by their Efficacy, all mine own.

The Approach.

1

That Childish Thoughts such Joys inspire,
Doth make my Wonder and his Glory Higher;
His Bounty, and my Wealth more Great,
It shews his Kingdom and his Work Compleat:
In which there is not any Thing
Not meet to be the Joy of Cherubim.

2

He in our Childhood with us walks,
And with our Thoughts Mysteriously he talks;
He often visiteth our Minds,
But cold Acceptance in us ever finds:
We send him often grievd away;
Els would he shew us all his Kingdoms Joy.

3

O Lord I wonder at thy Love,
Which did my Infancy so Early move:
But more at that which did forbear,
And move so long, tho Sleighted many a yeer:
But most of all, at last that Thou
Thyself shouldst me convert I scarce know how.

4

Thy Gracious Motions oft in vain
Assaulted me: My Heart did Hard remain
Long time: I sent my God away,
Grievd much that he could not impart his Joy.
I careless was, nor did regard
The End for which he all these Thoughts prepard.

5

But now with New and Open Eys,
I see beneath as if above the Skies;
And as I Backward look again,
See all his Thoughts and mine most Clear and Plain.
He did Approach, he me did Woo
I wonder that my God this thing would doe.

6

From Nothing taken first I was,
What Wondrous Things his Glory brought to pass!
Now in this World I him behold,
And me enveloped in more then Gold;
In deep Abysses of Delights,
In present Hidden Precious Benefits.

7

Those Thoughts his Goodness long before
Prepard as Precious and Celestial Store,
With curious Art in me inlaid,
That Childhood might it self alone be said,
My Tutor, Teacher, Guid to be,
Instructed then even by the Deitie.

Dumnesse.

Sure Man was born to Meditat on Things,
And to Contemplat the Eternal Springs
Of God and Nature, Glory, Bliss and Pleasure;
That Life and Love might be his Heavnly Treasure:
And therfore Speechless made at first, that he
Might in himself profoundly Busied be:
And not vent out, before he hath t'ane in
Those Antidots that guard his Soul from Sin.

Wise Nature made him Deaf too, that he might
Not be disturbd, while he doth take Delight
In inward Things, nor be depravd with Tongues,
Nor Injurd by the Errors and the Wrongs
That Mortal Words convey. For Sin and Death
Are most infused by accursed Breath,
That flowing from Corrupted Intrails, bear
Those hidden Plagues which Souls may justly fear.

This, my Dear friends, this was my Blessed Case;
For nothing spoke to me but the fair Face
Of Heav'n and Earth, before my self could speak,
I then my Bliss did, when my Silence, break.
My Non-Intelligence of Human Words
Ten thousand Pleasures unto me affords;

For while I knew not what they to me said,
Before their Souls were into mine conveyd,
Before that Living Vehicle of Wind
Could breath into me their infected Mind
Before my Thoughts were levend with theirs, before
There any Mixture was; the Holy Door,
Or Gate of Souls was closd, and mine being One
With in it self to me alone was Known.
Then did I dwell within a World of Light,
Distinct and Seperat from all Mens Sight,
Where I did feel strange Thoughts, and such Things see
That were, or seemd, only reveald to Me,
There I saw all the World Enjoyd by one;
There I was in the World my Self alone;
No Business Serious seemd but one; No Work
But one was found; and that did in me lurk.

D'ye ask me What? It was with Cleerer Eys
To see, all Creatures full of Deities;
Especialy Ones self: And to Admire
The Satisfaction of all True Desire:
Twas to be Pleasd with all that God hath done;
Twas to Enjoy even All beneath the Sun:
Twas with a Steddy and immediat Sence
To feel and measure all the Excellence
Of Things: Twas to inherit Endless Treasure,
And to be fild with Everlasting Pleasure:
To reign in Silence, and to Sing alone
To see, love, Covet, hav, Enjoy and Prais, in one:
To Prize and to be ravishd: to be true,
Sincere and Single in a Blessed View
To prize and prais. Thus was I pent within
A Fort, Impregnable to any Sin:
Till the Avenues being Open laid,
Whole Legions Enterd, and the Forts Betrayd.

Before which time a Pulpit in my Mind,
A Temple, and a Teacher I did find,
With a large Text to comment on. No Ear,
But Eys them selvs were all the Hearers there.
And evry Stone, and Evry Star a Tongue,
And evry Gale of Wind a Curious Song.
The Heavens were an Orakle, and spake
Divinity: The Earth did undertake
The office of a Priest; And I being Dum
(Nothing besides was dum;) All things did com
With Voices and Instructions; but when I
Had gaind a Tongue, their Power began to die.
Mine Ears let other Noises in, not theirs;
A Nois Disturbing all my Songs and Prayers.
My foes puld down the Temple to the Ground,
They my Adoring Soul did deeply Wound,
And casting that into a Swoon, destroyd
The Oracle, and all I there enjoyd.
And having once inspird me with a Sence
Of forrein Vanities, they march out thence
In Troops that Cover and despoyl my Coasts,
Being the Invisible, most Hurtfull Hosts.

Yet the first Words mine Infancy did hear,
The Things which in my Dumness did appear,
Preventing all the rest, got such a root
Within my Heart, and stick so close unto't
It may be Trampld on, but still will grow;
And Nutriment to Soyl it self will owe.
The first Impressions are Immortal all.
And let mine Enemies hoop, Cry, roar, or Call,
Yet these will whisper if I will but hear,
And penetrat the Heart, if not the Ear.

Silence.

A quiet Silent Person may possess
All that is Great or High in Blessedness.
The Inward Work is the Supreme: for all
The other were occasiond by the Fall.
A man, that seemeth Idle to the view
Of others, may the Greatest Business do.
Those Acts which Adam in his Innocence
Performed, carry all the Excellence.
These outward Busy Acts he knew not, were
But meaner Matters, of a lower Sphere.
Building of Churches, giving to the Poor,
In Dust and Ashes lying on the floor,
Administring of Justice, Preaching Peace,
Ploughing and Toyling for a forc't Increas,
With Visiting the Sick, or Governing
The rude and Ignorant: This was a thing
As then unknown. For neither Ignorance
Nor Poverty, nor Sickness did advance
Their Banner in the World, till Sin came in:
These therfore were occasiond all by Sin.
The first and only Work he had to do,
Was in himself to feel his Bliss, to view
His Sacred Treasures, to admire, rejoyce
Sing Praises with a Sweet and Heavnly voice,
See, Prize, Give hearty Thanks within, and Love
Which is the High and only Work, above
Them all. And this at first was mine; These were
My Exercises of the Highest Sphere.
To see, Approve, take Pleasure, and rejoyce,
Within, is better than an Empty Voice:
No Melody in Words can Equal that;
The Sweetest Organ, Lute, or Harp is flat,

And Dull, compard thereto. And O that Still
I might Admire my Fathers Lov and Skill!
This is to Honor, Worship and Adore,
This is to fear Him: nay it is far more.
It is to Enjoy Him, and to Imitate
The Life and Glory of his High Estate.
Tis to receiv with Holy Reverence,
To understand his Gifts, and with a Sence
Of Pure Devotion, and Humilitie,
To prize his Works, his Lov to Magnify.
O happy Ignorance of other Things,
Which made me present with the King of kings!
And like Him too! All Spirit, Life and Power,
All Lov and Joy, in his Eternal Bower.
A World of Innocence as then was mine,
In which the Joys of Paradice did shine
And while I was not here I was in Heaven,
Not resting one, but evry Day in Seven.
Forever Minding with a lively Sence,
The Univers in all its Excellence.
No other Thoughts did intervene, to Cloy,
Divert, extinguish, or Ecclyps my Joy.
No other Customs, New-found Wants, or Dreams
Invented here polluted my pure Streams.
No Aloes or Dregs, no Wormwood Star
Was seen to fall into the Sea from far.
No rotten Soul, did like an Apple, near
My Soul approach. There's no Contagion here.
An unperceived Donor gave all Pleasures,
There nothing was but I, and all my Treasures.
In that fair World one only was the Friend,
One Golden Stream, one Spring, one only End.
There only one did Sacrifice and Sing
To only one Eternal Heavenly King.
The Union was so Strait between them two,

That all was eithers which my Soul could view.
His Gifts, and my Possessions, both our Treasures;
He mine, and I the Ocean of his Pleasures.
He was an Ocean of Delights from Whom
The Living Springs and Golden Streams did com:
My Bosom was an Ocean into which
They all did run. And me they did enrich.
A vast and Infinit Capacitie,
Did make my Bosom like the Deitie,
In Whose Mysterious and Celestial Mind
All Ages and all Worlds together Shind.
Who tho he nothing said did always reign,
And in Himself Eternitie contain.
The World was more in me, then I in it.
The King of Glory in my Soul did sit.
And to Himself in me he always gave,
All that he takes Delight to see me have.
For so my Spirit was an Endless Sphere,
Like God himself, and Heaven and Earth was there.

My Spirit.

1

My Naked Simple Life was I.
That Act so Strongly Shind
Upon the Earth, the Sea, the Skie,
It was the Substance of My Mind.
The Sence it self was I.
I felt no Dross nor Matter in my Soul,
No Brims nor Borders, such as in a Bowl
We see, My Essence was Capacitie.
That felt all Things,
The Thought that Springs

Therfrom's it self. It hath no other Wings
To Spread abroad, nor Eys to see,
Nor Hands Distinct to feel,
Nor Knees to Kneel:
But being Simple like the Deitie
In its own Centre is a Sphere
Not shut up here, but evry Where.

2

It Acts not from a Centre to
Its Object as remote,
But present is, when it doth view,
Being with the Being it doth note.
Whatever it doth do,
It doth not by another Engine work,
But by it self; which in the Act doth lurk.
Its Essence is Transformd into a true
And perfect Act.
And so Exact
Hath God appeard in this Mysterious Fact,
That tis all Ey, all Act, all Sight,
And what it pleas can be,
Not only see,
Or do; for tis more Voluble then Light:
Which can put on ten thousand Forms,
Being clothd with what it self adorns.

3

This made me present evermore
With whatsoere I saw.
An Object, if it were before
My Ey, was by Dame Natures Law,
Within my Soul. Her Store
Was all at once within me; all her Treasures
Were my Immediat and Internal Pleasures,

Substantial Joys, which did inform my Mind.
With all she wrought,
My Soul was fraught,
And evry Object in my Heart a Thought
Begot, or was; I could not tell,
Whether the Things did there
Themselvs appear,
Which in my Spirit truly seemd to dwell;
Or whether my conforming Mind
Were not even all that therin shind.

4

But yet of this I was most sure,
That at the utmost Length,
(So Worthy was it to endure)
My Soul could best Express its Strength.
It was so Quick and Pure,
That all my Mind was wholy Evry where
What ere it saw, twas ever wholy there;
The Sun ten thousand Legions off, was nigh:
The utmost Star,
Tho seen from far,
Was present in the Apple of my Eye.
There was my Sight, my Life, my Sence,
My Substance and my Mind
My Spirit Shind
Even there, not by a Transeunt Influence.
The Act was Immanent, yet there.
The Thing remote, yet felt even here.

5

O Joy! O Wonder, and Delight!
O Sacred Mysterie!
My Soul a Spirit infinit!

An Image of the Deitie!
A pure Substantiall Light!
That Being Greatest which doth Nothing seem!
Why twas my All, I nothing did esteem
But that alone. A Strange Mysterious Sphere!
A Deep Abyss
That sees and is
The only Proper Place of Heavenly Bliss.
To its Creator tis so near
In Lov and Excellence
In Life and Sence,
In Greatness Worth and Nature; And so Dear;
In it, without Hyperbole,
The Son and friend of God we see.

6

A Strange Extended Orb of Joy,
Proceeding from within,
Which did on evry side convey
It self, and being nigh of Kin
To God did evry Way
Dilate it self even in an Instant, and
Like an Indivisible Centre Stand
At once Surrounding all Eternitie.
Twas not a Sphere
Yet did appear
One infinit. Twas somwhat evry where.
And tho it had a Power to see
Far more, yet still it shind
And was a Mind
Exerted for it saw Infinitie
Twas not a Sphere, but twas a Might
Invisible, and gave Light.

7

O Wondrous Self! O Sphere of Light,
O Sphere of Joy most fair;
O Act, O Power infinit;
O Subtile, and unbounded Air!
O Living Orb of Sight!
Thou which within me art, yet Me! Thou Ey,
And Temple of his Whole Infinitie!
O what a World art Thou! a World within!
All Things appear,
All Objects are
Alive in thee! Supersubstancial, Rare,
Abov them selvs, and nigh of Kin
To those pure Things we find
In his Great Mind
Who made the World! thou now Ecclypsd by Sin.
There they are Usefull and Divine,
Exalted there they ought to Shine.

The Apprehension.

If this I did not evry moment see,
And if my Thoughts did stray
At any time, or idly play,
And fix on other Objects, yet
This Apprehension set
In me
Was all my whole felicitie.

Fullnesse.

That Light, that Sight, that Thought,
Which in my Soul at first He wrought,
Is sure the only Act to which I may
Assent to Day:
The Mirror of an Endless Life,
The Shadow of a Virgin Wife,
A Spiritual World Standing within,
An Univers enclosd in Skin.
My Power exerted, or my Perfect Being,
If not Enjoying, yet an Act of Seeing.
My Bliss
Consists in this,
My Duty too
In this I view.
It is a Fountain or a Spring,
Refreshing me in evry thing.
From whence those living Streams I do derive
By which my Thirsty Soul is kept alive.
The Centre and the Sphere
Of my Delights are here.
It is my Davids Tower,
Where all my Armor lies,
The Fountain of my Power,
My Bliss, my Sacrifice:
A little Spark,
That shining in the Dark,
Makes, and encourages my Soul to rise.
The Root of Hope, the Golden Chain,
Whose End is, as the Poets feign,
Fastned to the very Throne
Of Jove.

It is a Stone,
On which I sit,
An Endless Benefit,
That being made my Regal Throne,
Doth prove
An Oracle of his Eternal Love.

Nature.

That Custom is a Second Nature, we
Most Plainly find by Natures Purity.
For Nature teacheth Nothing but the Truth.
I'me Sure mine did in my Virgin Youth.
The very Day my Spirit did inspire,
The Worlds fair Beauty set my Soul on fire.
My Senses were Informers to my Heart,
The Conduits of his Glory Power and Art.
His Greatness Wisdom Goodness I did see,
His Glorious Lov, and his Eternitie,
Almost as soon as Born: and evry Sence
Was in me like to som Intelligence.
I was by Nature prone and apt to love
All Light and Beauty, both in Heaven above,
And Earth beneath, prone even to Admire,
Adore and Prais as well as to Desire.
My Inclinations raisd me up on high,
And guided me to all Infinitie.
A Secret self I had enclosd within,
That was not bounded with my Clothes or Skin,
Or terminated with my Sight, the Sphere
Of which was bounded with the Heavens here:
But that did rather, like the Subtile Light,
Securd from rough and raging Storms by Night,

Break through the Lanthorns sides, and freely ray
Dispersing and Dilating evry Way:
Whose Steddy Beams too Subtile for the Wind,
Are such, that we their Bounds can scarcely find.
It did encompass, and possess rare Things,
But yet felt more, and on its Angels Wings
Pierc'd through the Skies immediatly, and Sought
For all that could beyond all Worlds be thought.
It did not move, nor one way go, but stood,
And by Dilating of it self, all Good
It strove to see, as if twere present there,
Even while it present stood conversing here:
And more suggested then I could discern,
Or ever since by any Means could learn.
Vast unaffected Wonderfull Desires,
Like Inward, Nativ, uncausd, hidden fires,
Sprang up with Expectations very strange,
Which into New Desires did quickly change.
For all I saw beyond the Azure Round,
Was Endless Darkness with no Beauty crownd.
Why Beauty should not there, as well as here,
Why Goodness should not likewise there appear,
Why Treasures and Delights should bounded be,
Since there is such a Wide Infinitie;
These were the Doubts and Troubles of my Soul,
By which I do perceiv without Controll,
A World of Endless Joys by Nature made,
That needs must flourish ever, never fade.
A Wide Magnificent and Spacious Skie,
So rich tis Worthy of the Deitie,
Clouds here and there like Winged Charets flying,
Flowers ever flourishing, yet always Dying,
A Day of Glory where I all things see,
As twere enrichd with Beams of Light for me,

And drownd in Glorious Rays of purer Light,
Succeeded with a Black, yet Glorious Night,
Stars Sweetly Shedding to my pleased Sence,
On all things their Nocturnal Influence,
With Secret Rooms in Times and Ages more
Past and to com enlarging my great Store,
These all in Order present unto Me
My Happy Eys did in a Moment see
With Wonders there-too, to my Soul unknown,
Till they by Men and Reading first were shewn.
All which were made, that I might ever be
With som Great Workman, som Great Deitie.
But yet there were new Rooms, and Spaces more,
Beyond all these, New Regions ore and ore,
Into all which my pent-up-Soul like fire
Did break, Surmounting all I here admire.
The Spaces fild were like a Cabinet
Of Joys before me most Distinctly set:
The Empty, like to large and Vacant Room
For Fancy to enlarge in, and presume
A Space for more, removd, but yet adorning
These neer at hand, that pleasd me evry Morning.
Here I was seated to behold New Things,
In the fair fabrick of the King of Kings.
All, all was mine. The fountain tho not Known,
Yet that there must be one was plainly shewn.
Which fountain of Delights must needs be Lov
As all the Goodness of the things did prov.
It shines upon me from the highest Skies,
And all its Creatures for my sake doth prize,
Of whose Enjoyment I am made the End.
While how the same is so I comprehend.

Ease.

1

How easily doth Nature teach the Soul,
How irresistible is her Infusion!
There's Nothing found that can her force controll,
But Sin. How Weak and feeble's all Delusion!

2

Things fals are forcd, and most Elaborate,
Things pure and true are Obvious unto Sence;
The first Impressions, in our Earthly State,
Are made by Things most Great in Excellence.

3

How easy is it to believ the Skie
Is Wide and Great and fair? How soon may we
Be made to know the Sun is Bright and High,
And very Glorious, when its Beams we see?

4

That all the Earth is one continued Globe,
And that all Men theron are Living Treasures,
That fields and Meadows are a Glorious Robe,
Adorning it with Sweet and Heavenly Pleasures;

5

That all we see is ours, and evry One
Possessor of the Whole; that evry Man
Is like a God Incarnat on the Throne,
Even like the first for whom the World began;

6

Whom all are taught to honor serv and lov,
Becaus he is Belovd of God unknown;
And therfore is on Earth it self abov
All others, that his Wisdom might be shewn:

7

That all may Happy be, Each one most Blest,
Both in Himself and others; all most High,
While all by each, and each by all possest,
Are intermutual Joys, beneath the Skie.

8

This shows a Wise Contrivance, and discovers
Som Great Creator Sitting on the Throne,
That so disposeth things for all his Lovers,
That evry one might reign like GOD alone.

Speed.

1

The Liquid Pearl in Springs,
The usefull and the Precious Things
Are in a Moment Known.
Their very Glory does reveal their Worth,
(And that doth set their Glory forth;)
As soon as I was Born, they all were Shewn.

2

True Living Wealth did flow,
In Chrystall Streams below
My feet, and trilling down
In Pure, Transparent, Soft, Sweet, Melting Pleasures,
Like Precious and Diffusive Treasures,
At once my Body fed, and Soul did Crown.

3

I was as High and Great,
As Kings are in their Seat.
All other Things were mine.
The World my House, the Creatures were my Goods,
Fields, Mountains, Valleys, Woods,
Men and their Arts to make me Rich combine.

4

Great, Lofty, Endless, Stable,
Various and Innumerable,
Bright usefull fair Divine,
Immovable and Sweet the Treasures were,
The Sacred Objects did appear
Most rich and Beautifull, as well as mine.

5

New all! New Burnisht Joys;
Tho now by other Toys
Ecclypst: New all and mine.
Great Truth so Sacred seemd for this to me,
Becaus the Things which I did see
Were such, my State I knew to be Divine.

6

Nor did the Angels faces,
The Glories, and the Graces,
The Beauty Peace and Joy
Of Heaven it self, more Sweetness yeeld to me.
Till filthy Sin did all destroy,
These were the Offspring of the Deitie.

The Choice.

1

When first Eternity Stoopd down to Nought,
And in the Earth its Likeness sought,
When first it out of Nothing framd the Skies,
And formd the Moon and Sun
That we might see what it had don,
It was so Wise,
That it did prize
Things truly Greatest Brightest fairest, Best.
All which it made, and left the rest.

2

Then did it take such Care about the Truth,
Its Daughter, that even in her Youth,
Her face might Shine upon us, and be known,
That by a better fate,
It other Toys might Antedate,
As soon as shewn;
And be our own,
While we were hers; And that a Virgin Love
Her best Inheritance might prove.

3

Thoughts undefiled, Simple, Naked, Pure;
Thoughts Worthy ever to endure,
Our first and Disengaged thoughts it lovs,
And therfore made the Truth,
In Infancy and Tender Youth,
So Obvious to
Our Easy view
That it doth prepossess our Soul, and proves
The Caus of what it all Ways moves.

4

By Merit and Desire it doth allure;
For Truth is so Divine and Pure,
So Rich and Acceptable, being seen,
(Not parted, but in Whole)
That it doth Draw and force the Soul,
As the Great Queen
Of Bliss, between
Whom and the Soul, no one Pretender ought
Thrust in, to Captivat a Thought.

5

Hence did Eternity contrive to make
The Truth so fair for all our Sake.
That being Truth, and Fair and Easy too,
While it on all doth Shine,
We might by it becom Divine
Being led to Woo
The Thing we view,
And as chast Virgins Early with it joyn,
That with it we might likewise Shine.

6

Eternity doth give the richest Things
To evry Man, and makes all Kings.
The Best and Richest Things it doth convey
To all, and evry one.
It raised me unto a Throne!
Which I enjoy,
In such a Way,
That Truth her Daughter is my chiefest Bride,
Her Daughter Truth's my chiefest Pride.

7

All mine! And seen so Easily! How Great, how Blest!
How soon am I of all possest!
My Infancie no Sooner Opes its Eys,
But Straight the Spacious Earth
Abounds with Joy Peace Glory Mirth
And being Wise,
The very Skies,
And Stars do mine becom; being all possest
Even in that Way that is the Best.

The Person.

1

Ye Sacred Lims,
A richer Blazon I will lay
On you, then first I found:
That like Celestial Kings,
Ye might with Ornaments of Joy
Be always Crownd.
A Deep Vermilion on a Red,
On that a Scarlet I will lay,
With Gold Ile Crown your Head,
Which like the Sun shall Ray.
With Robes of Glory and Delight
Ile make you Bright.
Mistake me not, I do not mean to bring
New Robes, but to Display the Thing:
Nor Paint, nor Cloath, nor Crown, nor add a Ray,
But Glorify by taking all away.

2

The Naked Things
Are most Sublime, and Brightest shew,
When they alone are seen:
Mens Hands then Angels Wings
Are truer Wealth even here below:
For those but seem.
Their Worth they then do best reveal,
When we all Metaphores remove,
For Metaphores conceal,
And only Vapours prove.
They best are Blazond when we see
The Anatomie,
Survey the Skin, cut up the Flesh, the Veins
Unfold: The Glory there remains.
The Muscles, Fibres, Arteries and Bones
Are better far then Crowns and precious Stones.

3

Shall I not then
Delight in these most Sacred Treasures
Which my Great Father gave,
Far more then other Men
Delight in Gold? Since these are Pleasures,
That make us Brave!
Far Braver then the Pearl and Gold
That glitter on a Ladies Neck!
The Rubies we behold,
The Diamonds that Deck
The Hands of Queens, compard unto
The Hands we view;
The Softer Lillies, and the Roses are
Less Ornaments to those that Wear
The same, then are the Hands, and Lips, and Ey
Of those who those fals Ornaments so prize.

4

Let Veritie
Be thy Delight: let me Esteem
True Wealth far more then Toys:
Let Sacred Riches be,
While falser Treasures only seem,
My real Joys.
For Golden Chains and Bracelets are
But Gilded Manicles, wherby
Old Satan doth ensnare,
Allure, Bewitch the Ey.
Thy Gifts O God alone Ile prize,
My Tongue, my Eys,
My cheeks, my Lips, my Ears, my Hands, my Feet;
Their Harmony is far more Sweet;
Their Beauty true. And these in all my Ways
Shall Themes becom, and Organs of thy Praise.

The Estate.

1

But shall my Soul no Wealth possess,
No Outward Riches have?
Shall Hands and Eys alone express
Thy Bounty? Which the Grave
Shall strait devour. Shall I becom
With in my self a Living Tomb
Of Useless Wonders? Shall the fair and brave
And great Endowments of my Soul lie Waste,
Which ought to be a fountain, and a Womb
Of Praises unto Thee?
Shall there no Outward Objects be,
For these to see and Taste?

Not so, my God, for Outward Joys and Pleasures
Are even the Things for which my Lims are Treasures.

2

My Palate is a Touch-Stone fit
To taste how Good Thou art:
And other Members second it
Thy Praises to impart.
There's not an Ey that's framd by Thee,
But ought thy Life and Lov, to see.
Nor is there, Lord, upon mine Head an Ear,
But that the Musick of thy Works should hear.
Each Toe, each Finger framed by thy Skill,
Ought Oyntments to Distill.
Ambrosia, Nectar, Wine should flow
From evry Joynt I owe,
Or Things more Rich; while they thy Holy Will
Are Instruments adapted to fulfill.

3

They ought, my God, to be the Pipes,
And Conduits of thy Prais.
Mens Bodies were not made for Stripes,
Nor any thing but Joys.
They were not made to be alone:
But made to be the very Throne
Of Blessedness, to be like Suns, whose Raies,
Dispersed, Scatter many thousand Ways.
They Drink in Nectars, and Disburs again
In Purer Beams, those Streams,
Those Nectars which are causd by Joys.
And as the spacious Main
Doth all the Rivers which it Drinks, return,
Thy Love receivd doth make the Soul to burn.

4

Elixars richer are then Dross,
And Ends are more Divine
Then are the Means: But Dung and Loss
Materials (tho they Shine
Like Gold and Silver) are, compard
To what thy Spirit doth regard,
Thy Will require, thy Lov embrace, thy Mind
Esteem, thy Nature most Illustrious find.
These are the Things wher with we God reward.
Our Love he more doth prize:
Our Gratitude is in his Eys,
Far richer then the Skies.
And those Affections which we do return,
And like the Lov which in Himself doth burn.

5

We plough the very Skies, as well
As Earth, the Spacious Seas
Are ours; the Stars all Gems excell.
The Air was made to pleas
The Souls of Men: Devouring fire
Doth feed and Quicken Mans Desire.
The Orb of Light in its wide Circuit movs,
Corn for our Food Springs out of very Mire,
Our Fences and Fewel grows in Woods and Groves,
Choice Herbs and Flowers aspire
To Kiss our Feet; Beasts court our Lovs.
How Glorious is Mans Fate
The Laws of God, the Works he did Create,
His Ancient Ways, are His, and my Estate.

The Enquirie.

1

Men may delighted be with Springs,
While Trees and Herbs their Senses pleas,
And taste even living Nectar in the Seas:
May think their Members things
Of Earthly Worth at least, if not Divine,
And Sing becaus the Earth for them doth Shine.

2

But can the Angels take Delight,
To see such Faces here beneath?
Or can Perfumes indeed from Dunghils breath?
Or is the World a Sight
Worthy of them? Then may we Mortals be
Surrounded with Eternal Claritie.

3

Even Holy Angels may com down
To walk on Earth, and see Delights,
That feed and pleas, even here, their Appetites.
Our Joys may make a Crown
For them. And in his Tabernacle Men may be
Like Palmes with the Cherubs mingled see.

4

Mens Sences are indeed the Gems,
Their Praises the most Sweet Perfumes,
Their Eys the Thrones, their Hearts the Heavnly Rooms,
Their Souls the Diadems,
Their Tongues the Organs which they lov to hear,
Their Cheeks and faces like to theirs appear.

5

The Wonders which our God hath done,
The Glories of his Attributes,
Like dangling Apples or like Golden Fruits,
Angelick Joys become.
His Wisdom Shines, on Earth; his Lov doth flow,
Like Myrrh or Incense, even here below.

6

And shall not we such Joys possess,
Which God for Man did chiefly make?
The Angels hav them only for our sake!
And yet they all confess
His Glory here on Earth to be Divine,
And that his GODHEAD in his Works doth shine.

The Circulation.

1

As fair Ideas from the Skie,
Or Images of Things,
Unto a Spotless Mirror flie,
On unperceived Wings;
And lodging there affect the Sence,
As if at first they came from thence;
While being there, they richly Beautifie
The Place they fill, and yet communicat
Themselvs, reflecting to the Seers Ey,
Just such is our Estate.
No Prais can we return again,
No Glory in our selvs possess,
But what derived from without we gain,
From all the Mysteries of Blessedness.

2

No Man breaths out more vital Air,
Then he before suckt in.
Those Joys and Praises must repair
To us, which tis a Sin
To bury, in a Senceless Tomb.
An Earthly Weight must be the Heir
Of all those Joys, the Holy Angels Prize,
He must a King, before a Priest becom,
And Gifts receiv, or ever Sacrifice.
Tis Blindness Makes us Dumb.
Had we but those Celestial Eys,
Wherby we could behold the Sum
Of all his Bounties, we should overflow
With Praises, did we but their Causes Know.

3

All Things to Circulations owe
Themselvs; by which alone
They do exist. They cannot shew
A Sigh, a Word, a Groan,
A Colour, or a Glimps of Light,
The Sparcle of a Precious Stone,
A virtue, or a Smell; a lovly Sight,
A Fruit, a Beam, an Influence, a Tear;
But they anothers Livery must Wear:
And borrow Matter first,
Before they can communicat.
Whatever's empty is accurst:
And this doth shew that we must some Estate
Possess, or never can communicate.

4

A Spunge drinks in that Water, which
Is afterwards exprest.

A Liberal hand must first be rich:
Who blesseth must be Blest.
The Thirsty Earth drinks in the Rain,
The Trees suck Moysture at their Roots,
Before the one can Lavish Herbs again,
Before the other can afford us Fruits.
No Tenant can rais Corn, or pay his Rent,
Nor can even hav a Lord,
That has no Land. No Spring can vent,
No vessel any Wine afford
Wherin no Liquor's put. No Empty Purs,
Can Pounds or Talents of it self disburs.

5

Flame that Ejects its Golden Beams,
Sups up the Grosser Air;
To Seas, that pour out their Streams
In Springs, those Streams repair;
Receivd Ideas make even Dreams.
No Fancy painteth foule or fair
But by the Ministry of Inward Light,
That in the Spirits Cherisheth its Sight.
The Moon returneth Light, and som men say
The very Sun no Ray
Nor Influence could hav, did it
No forrein Aids, no food admit.
The Earth no Exhalations would afford,
Were not its Spirits by the Sun restord.

6

All things do first receiv, that giv.
Only tis GOD above,
That from, and in himself doth live,
Whose All sufficient Love

Without Original can flow
And all the Joys and Glories shew
Which Mortal Man can take Delight to know
He is the Primitive Eternal Spring
The Endless Ocean of each Glorious Thing.
The Soul a Vessel is
A Spacious Bosom to Contain
All the fair Treasures of his Bliss
Which run like Rivers from, into the Main,
And all it doth receiv returns again.

Amendment.

1

That all things should be mine;
This makes his Bounty most Divine.
But that they all more Rich should be,
And far more Brightly shine,
As usd by Me:
It ravisheth my Soul to see the End,
To which this Work so Wonderfull doth tend.

2

That we should make the Skies
More Glorious far before thine Eys,
Then Thou didst make them, and even Thee
Far more thy Works to prize,
As usd they be,
Then as they're made; is a Stupendious Work,
Wherin thy Wisdom Mightily doth lurk.

3

Thy Greatness, and thy Love,
Thy Power, in this, my Joy doth move,
Thy Goodness and Felicitie,
In this Exprest abov
All Praise, I see:
While thy Great Godhead over all doth reign,
And such an End in such a sort attain.

4

What Bound may we Assign
O God to any Work of thine!
Their Endlessness discovers Thee
In all to be Divine;
A DEITIE.
That wilt for evermore Exceed the End
Of all that Creatures Wit can comprehend.

5

Am I a Glorious Spring
Of Joys and Riches to my King?
Are Men made Gods! And may they see
So Wonderfull a Thing
As GOD in me!
And is my Soul a Mirror that must Shine
Even like the Sun, and be far more Divine?

6

Thy Soul, O GOD, doth prize
The Seas, the Earth, our Souls, the Skies,
As we return the same to Thee;
They more delight thine Eys,
And Sweeter be,
As unto Thee we Offer up the same,
Then as to us, from Thee at first they came.

7

O how doth Sacred Lov
His Gifts refine, Exalt, Improve!
Our Love to Creatures makes them be
In thine Esteem above
Themselvs to Thee!
O here his Goodness evermore admire
He made our Souls to make his Creatures Higher.

The Demonstration.

1

The Highest Things are Easiest to be shewn,
And only capable of being Known.
A Miste involvs the Ey,
While in the Middle it doth lie;
And till the Ends of Things are seen,
The Way's uncertain that doth stand between.
As in the Air we see the Clouds
Like Winding Sheets, or Shrouds;
Which tho they nearer are obscure
The Sun, which Higher far, is far more Pure.

2

Its very Brightness makes it neer the Ey,
Tho many thousand Leagues beyond the Skie.
Its Beams by violence
Invade, and ravish distant Sence.
Only Extremes and Hights are Known;
No Certainty, where no Perfection's shewn.
Extremities of Blessedness
Compell us to confess
A GOD indeed. Whose Excellence,
In all his Works, must needs exceed all Sence.

3

And for this Caus Incredibles alone
May be by Demonstration to us shewn.
Those Things that are most Bright
Sun-like appear in their own Light.
And Nothing's truly seen that's Mean:
Be it a Sand, an Acorn, or a Bean,
It must be clothd with Endless Glory,
Before its perfect Story
(Be the Spirit ne're so Clear)
Can in its Causes and its Ends appear.

4

What can be more Incredible then this,
Where may we find a more profound Abyss?
What Heavnly Height can be
Transcendent to this Summitie!
What more Desirable Object can
Be oferd to the Soul of Hungering Man!
His Gifts as they to us com down
Are infinit, and crown
The Soul with Strange Fruitions; yet
Returning from us they more value get.

5

And what then this can be more Plain and Clear?
What Truth then this more Evident appear!
The GODHEAD cannot prize
The Sun at all, nor yet the Skies,
Or Air, or Earth, or Trees, or Seas,
Or Stars, unless the Soul of Man they pleas.
He neither sees with Humane Eys
Nor needs Himself Seas Skies
Or Earth, or any thing: He draws
No Breath, nor Eats or Drinks by Natures Laws.

6

The Joy and Pleasure which his Soul doth take
In all his Works, is for his Creatures sake.
So Great a Certainty
We in this Holy Doctrine see
That there could be no Worth at all
In any Thing Material Great or Small
Were not som Creature more Alive,
Whence it might Worth Derive.
GOD is the Spring whence Things came forth
Souls are the fountains of their Real Worth.

7

The Joy and Pleasure which his Soul doth take
In all his Works is for his Creatures sake
Yet doth he take Delight
Thats altogether Infinite
In them even as they from him com
For such his Lov and Goodness is, the Sum
Of all his Happiness doth seem,
At least in his Esteem,
In that Delight and Joy to lie
Which is his Blessed Creatures Melodie.

8

In them he sees, and feels, and Smels, and Lives,
In them Affected is to whom he gives:
In them ten thousand Ways,
He all his Works again enjoys,
All things from Him to Him proceed
By them; Are His in them: As if indeed
His Godhead did it self exceed.
To them He all Conveys;
Nay even Himself: He is the End
To whom in them Himself, and All things tend.

The Anticipation.

1

My Contemplation Dazles in the End
Of all I comprehend.
And soars abov all Heights,
Diving into the Depths of all Delights.
Can He becom the End,
To whom all Creatures tend?
Who is the Father of all Infinites!
Then may He Benefit receiv from Things,
And be not Parent only of all Springs.

2

The End doth Want the Means, and is the Caus,
Whose Sake, by Natures Laws,
Is that for which they are.
Such Sands, such Dangerous Rocks we must beware
From all Eternitie
A Perfect Deitie
Most Great and Blessed he doth still appear.
His Essence Perfect was in all its Features
He ever Blessed in his Joys and Creatures.

3

From Everlasting he these Joys did Need,
And all these Joys proceed
From Him Eternaly.
From Everlasting His felicitie
Compleat and Perfect was:
Whose Bosom is the Glass,
Wherin we all Things Everlasting See.
His Name is NOW, his Nature is forever.
None Can his Creatures from their Maker Sever.

4

The End in Him from Everlasting is
The Fountain of all Bliss.
From Everlasting it
Efficient was, and Influence did Emit,
That caused all. Before
The World, we do Adore
This Glorious End. Becaus all Benefit
From it proceeds. Both are the very same.
The End and Fountain differ but in Name.

5

That so the End should be the very Spring,
Of evry Glorious Thing;
And that which seemeth Last,
The Fountain and the Caus; attaind so fast,
That it was first; and movd
The Efficient, who so lovd
All Worlds and made them for the sake of this
It shews the End Compleat before, and is
A Perfect Token of his Perfect Bliss.

6

The End Compleat, the Means must needs be so.
By which we plainly Know,
From all Eternitie,
The Means wherby God is, must perfect be.
God is Himself the Means,
Wherby he doth exist:
And as the Sun by Shining's clothd with Beams,
So from Himself to All His Glory Streams,
Who is a Sun, yet what Himself doth list.

7

His Endless Wants and His Enjoyments be
From all Eternitie;
Immutable in Him:
They are His Joys before the Cherubim.
His Wants appreciat all,
And being infinit,
Permit no Being to be Mean or Small
That He enjoys, or is before his Sight.
His Satisfactions do His Wants Delight.

8

Wants are the Fountains of Felicitie
No Joy could ever be
Were there no Want. No Bliss
No Sweetness Perfect were it not for this.
Want is the Greatest Pleasure
Becaus it makes all Treasure.
O what a Wonderfull Profound Abyss
Is God! In whom Eternal Wants and Treasures
Are more Delightfull caus they both are Pleasures.

9

He infinitly wanteth all his Joys;
(No Want the Soul ore cloys.)
And all those Wanted Pleasures
He infinitly Hath. What Endless Measures,
What Heights and Depths may we
In his Felicitie
Conceiv! Whose very Wants are Endles Pleasures.
His Life in Wants and Joys is infinit.
And both are felt as His Supreme Delight.

10

He's not like us; Possession doth not Cloy,
Nor Sence of Want Destroy.
Both always are together:
No force can either from the other Sever.
Yet theres a Space between
Thats Endless. Both are seen
Distinctly still, and both are seen for ever.
As soon as ere he wanteth all his Bliss,
His Bliss, tho Everlasting, in Him is.

11

His Essence is all Act: He did, that He
All Act might always be.
His Nature burns like fire;
His Goodness infinitly doth desire,
To be by all possest;
His Love makes others Blest.
It is the Glory of his High Estate,
And that which I for ever more Admire,
He is an Act that doth Communicate.

12

From all to all Eternity He is
That Act: An Act of Bliss:
Wherin all Bliss to all,
That will receiv the same, or on him call,
Is freely given: from Whence
Tis Easy even to Sence,
To apprehend That all Receivers are
In Him, all Gifts, all Joys, all Eys, even all
At once, that ever will, or shall appear.

13

He is the Means of them, they not of Him.
The Holy Cherubim
Souls Angels from him came
Who is a Glorious Bright and Living Flame,
That on all things doth shine,
And makes their Face Divine.
And Holy, Holy, Holy, is his Name.
He is the Means both of Himself and all,
Whom we the Fountain Means and End do call.

14

In whom as in the Fountain all things are,
In whom all things appear
As in the Means, and End
From whom they all proceed, to whom they tend.
By whom they are made ours
Whose Souls are Spacious Bowers
Of all like His. Who ought to have a Sence
Of all our Wants, of all His Excellence,
That while we all, we Him might comprehend.

The Recovery.

1

To see us but receiv, is such a Sight
As makes his Treasures infinit!
Becaus His Goodness doth possess
In us, His own, and our own Blessedness.
Yea more, His Love doth take Delight
To make our Glory Infinite
Our Blessedness to see

Is even to the Deitie
A Beatifick Vision! He attains
His Ends while we enjoy. In us He reigns.

2

For God enjoyd is all his End.
Himself he then doth Comprehend.
When He is Blessed, Magnified,
Extold, Exalted, Praisd and Glorified
Honord, Esteemd, Belovd, Enjoyd,
Admired, Sanctified, Obeyd,
That is receivd. For He
Doth place his Whole Felicitie
In that, who is despised and defied
Undeified almost if once denied.

3

In all his Works, in all his Ways,
We must his Glory see and Prais;
And since our Pleasure is the End,
We must his Goodness and his Lov attend.
If we despise his Glorious Works,
Such Sin and Mischief in it lurks,
That they are all made vain
And this is even Endless Pain
To him that sees it. Whose Diviner Grief
Is here upon (Ah me!) without relief.

4

We pleas his Goodness that receiv:
Refusers Him of all bereav.
As Bride grooms Know full well that Build
A Palace for their Bride. It will not yeeld
Any Delight to him at all
If She for whom He made the Hall

Refuse to dwell in it
Or plainly Scorn the Benefit.
Her Act that's Wo'ed, yeelds more delight and Pleasure
If she receivs, Then all that Pile of Treasure.

5

But we have Hands and Lips and Eys
And Hearts and Souls can Sacrifice.
And Souls themselvs are made in vain
If we our Evil Stubbornness retain.
Affections, Praises, are the Things
For which he gave us all these Springs,
They are the very fruits
Of all these Trees and Roots
The Fruits and Ends of all his Great Endeavors,
Which he abolisheth whoever Severs.

6

Tis not alone a Lively Sence
A clear and Quick Intelligence
A free, Profound, and full Esteem:
Tho these Elixars all and Ends to seem
But Gratitude, Thanksgiving, Prais,
A Heart returnd for all these Joys,
These are the Things admird,
These are the Things by Him desird.
These are the Nectar and the Quintessence
The Cream and Flower that most affect his Sence.

7

The voluntary Act wherby
These are repaid, is in his Ey
More Precious then the very Skie.

All Gold and Silver is but Empty Dross
Rubies and Saphires are but Loss
The very Sun and Stars and Seas
Far less his Spirit pleas.
One Voluntary Act of Love
Far more Delightfull to his Soul doth prove
And is abov all these as far as Love.

Another.

[He seeks for ours as we do seek for his.]

1

He seeks for ours as we do seek for his.
Nay O my Soul, ours is far more His Bliss
Then his is ours; at least it so doth seem
Both in his own and our Esteem.

2

His Earnest Lov, his Infinit Desires,
His Living, Endless, and Devouring fires,
Do rage in Thirst, and fervently require
A lov, tis Strange it should desire.

3

We cold and Careless are, and scarcely think
Upon the Glorious Spring wherat we Drink.
Did he not lov us, we could be content.
We Wretches are Indifferent!

4

He courts our Lov with infinit Esteem,
And seeks it so that it doth almost seem
Even all his Blessedness. His Lov doth prize
It as the only Sacrifice.

5

Tis Death my Soul to be Indifferent,
Set forth thy self unto thy whole Extent,
And all the Glory of his Passion prize,
Who for Thee livs, who for Thee Dies.

6

His Goodness made thy Lov so Great a Pleasure,
His Goodness made thy Soul so Great a Treasure
To Thee and Him: that thou mightst both inherit,
Prize it according to its Merit.

7

There is no Goodness nor Desert in Thee,
For which thy Lov so Coveted should be,
His Goodness is the fountain of thy Worth
O liv to lov and set it forth.

8

Thou Nothing givst to Him, he gav all Things,
To Thee, and made Thee like the King of Kings.
His Lov the fountain is of Heaven and Earth
The Caus of all thy Joy and Mirth.

9

Thy Lov is Nothing but it self, and yet
So infinit is his, that he doth set
A valu infinit upon it. Oh!
This, canst thou Careless be, and Know!

10

Let that same Goodness, which being infinit,
Esteems thy Lov with Infinit Delight,
Tho less then His, Tho Nothing, always be
An Object Infinit to Thee.

11

And as it is the Caus of all Esteem,
Of all the Worth which in thy Lov doth seem,
So let it be the Caus of all thy Pleasure
Causing its Being and its Measure.

Love.

1

O Nectar! O Delicious Stream!
O ravishing and only Pleasure! Where
Shall such another Theme
Inspire my Tongue with Joys, or pleas mine Ear!
Abridgement of Delights!
And Queen of Sights!
O Mine of Rarities! O Kingdom Wide!
O more! O Caus of all! O Glorious Bride!
O God! O Bride of God! O King!
O Soul and Crown of evry Thing!

2

Did not I covet to behold
Som Endless Monarch, that did always live
In Palaces of Gold
Willing all Kingdoms Realms and Crowns to give
Unto my Soul! Whose Lov
A Spring might prov
Of Endless Glories, Honors, friendships, Pleasures,
Joys, Praises, Beauties and Celestial Treasures!
Lo, now I see there's such a King,
The fountain Head of evry Thing!

3

Did my Ambition ever Dream
Of such a Lord, of such a Love! Did I
Expect so Sweet a Stream
As this at any time! Could any Ey
Believ it? Why all Power
Is used here
Joys down from Heaven on my Head to shower
And Jove beyond the Fiction doth appear
Once more in Golden Rain to come
To Danae's Pleasing Fruitfull Womb.

4

His Ganimede! His Life! His Joy!
Or he comes down to me, or takes me up
That I might be his Boy,
And fill, and taste, and give, and Drink the Cup.
But these (tho great) are all
Too short and small,
Too Weak and feeble Pictures to Express
The true Mysterious Depths of Blessedness.
I am his Image, and his Friend.
His Son, Bride, Glory, Temple, End.

Thoughts. I.

1

Ye brisk Divine and Living Things,
Ye great Exemplars, and ye Heavenly Springs,
Which I within me see;
Ye Machines Great,
Which in my Spirit God did Seat,
Ye Engines of Felicitie;

Ye Wondrous Fabricks of his Hands,
Who all possesseth that he understands;
That ye are pent within my Brest,
Yet rove at large from East to West,
And are Invisible, yet Infinite;
Is my Transcendent, and my Best Delight.

2

By you I do the Joys possess
Of Yesterdays-yet-present Blessedness;
As in a Mirror Clear,
Old Objects I
Far distant do even now descrie
Which by your help are present here.
Ye are your selvs the very Pleasures.
The Sweetest, last, and most Substantial Treasures.
The Offsprings and Effects of Bliss
By whose Return my Glory is
Renewd, and represented to my View:
O ye Delights, most Pure, Divine, and True!

3

Ye Thoughts and Apprehensions are
The Heavenly Streams which fill the Soul with rare
Transcendent Perfect Pleasures.
At any time,
As if ye still were in your Prime,
Ye Open all his Heavenly Treasures.
His Joys accessible are found
To you, and those Things enter which Surround
The Soul. Ye Living Things within!
Where had all Joy and Glory been
Had ye not made the Soul those Things to Know.
Which Seated in it make the fairest Shew?

4

I know not by what Secret Power
Ye flourish so: but ye within your Bower,
More Beautifull do seem,
And better Meat
Ye daily yeeld my Soul to eat,
Then even the Objects I esteem
Without my Soul. What were the Skie,
What were the Sun, or Stars, did ye not lie
In me! and represent them there
Where els they never could appear!
Yea What were Bliss without such Thoughts to me,
What were my Life, what were the Deitie?

5

O ye Conceptions of Delight!
Ye that inform my Soul with Life and Sight!
Ye Representatives, and Springs
Of inward Pleasure!
Ye Joys! Ye Ends of Outward Treasure!
Ye Inward, and ye Living Things!
The Thought, or Joy Conceived is
The inward Fabrick of my Standing Bliss.
It is the Substance of my Mind
Transformd, and with its Objects lind.
The Quintessence, Elixar, Spirit, Cream.
Tis Strange that Things unseen should be Supreme.

6

The Ey's confind, the Body's pent
In narrow Room: Lims are of small Extent.
But Thoughts are always free.
And as they're best,
So can they even in the Brest,
Rove ore the World with Libertie:

Can Enter Ages, Present be
In any Kingdom, into Bosoms see.
Thoughts, Thoughts can come to Things, and view,
What Bodies cant approach unto.
They know no Bar, Denial, Limit, Wall:
But have a Liberty to look on all.

7

Like Bees they flie from Flower to Flower,
Appear in Evry Closet, Temple, Bower;
And suck the Sweet from thence,
No Ey can see:
As Tasters to the Deitie.
Incredible's their Excellence.
For ever-more they will be seen
Nor ever moulder into less Esteem.
They ever shew an Equal face,
And are Immortal in their place.
Ten thousand Ages hence they are as Strong,
Ten thousand Ages hence they are as Yong.

Blisse.

1

All Blisse
Consists in this,
To do as Adam did:
And not to know those Superficial Toys
Which in the Garden once were hid.
Those little new Invented Things.
Cups, Saddles Crowns are Childish Joys.
So Ribbans are and Ring.
Which all our Happiness destroys.

2

Nor God
In his Abode
Nor Saints nor little Boys
Nor Angels made them, only foolish Men,
Grown mad with Custom on those Toys
Which more increas their Wants do dote.
And when they Older are do then
Those Bables chiefly note
With Greedier Eys, more Boys tho Men.

Thoughts. II.

1

A Delicate and Tender Thought
The Quintessence is found of all he Wrought.
It is the fruit of all his Works,
Which we conceive,
Bring forth, and Give,
Yea and in which the Greater Value lurks.
It is the fine and Curious Flower,
Which we return, and offer evry hour:
So Tender in our Paradice
That in a Trice
It withers strait, and fades away,
If we but ceas its Beautie to display.

2

Why Things so Precious, should be made
So Prone, so Easy, and so Apt to fade
It is not easy to declare.
But God would have
His Creatures Brave

And that too by their own Continual Care.
He gave them Power evry Hour,
Both to Erect, and to Maintain a Tower,
Which he far more in us doth Prize
Then all the Skies.
That we might offer it to Him,
And in our Souls be like the Seraphim.

3

That Temple David did intend,
Was but a Thought, and yet it did transcend
King Solomons. A Thought we know
Is that for which
God doth Enrich
With Joys even Heaven above, and Earth below.
For that all Objects might be seen
He made the Orient Azure and the Green:
That we might in his Works delight.
And that the Sight
Of those his Treasures might Enflame
The Soul with Love to him, he made the same.

4

This Sight which is the Glorious End
Of all his Works, and which doth comprehend
Eternity, and Time, and Space,
Is far more dear,
And far more near
To him, then all his Glorious Dwelling Place.
It is a Spiritual World within.
A Living World, and nearer far of Kin
To God, then that which first he made.
While that doth fade
This therfore ever shall Endure,
Within the Soul as more Divine and Pure.

[Ye hidden Nectars, which my GOD doth drink]

1

Ye hidden Nectars, which my GOD doth drink,
Ye Heavenly Streams, ye Beams Divine,
On which the Angels think,
How Quick, how Strongly do ye shine!
Ye Images of Joy that in me Dwell,
Ye Sweet Mysterious Shades
That do all Substances Excell,
Whose Glory Never fades;
Ye Skies, ye Seas, ye Stars, or things more fair,
O ever, ever unto me repair.

2

Ye Pleasant Thoughts! O how that Sun Divine
Appears to Day which I did see
So Sweetly then to Shine.
Even in my very Infancy!
Ye rich Ideas which within me live
Ye Living Pictures here
Ye Spirits that do bring and Give
All Joys; when ye appear,
Even Heavn it self, and God, and all in You,
Come down on Earth, and pleas my Blessed View.

3

I never Glorious Great and Rich am found,
Am never ravished with Joy,
Till ye my Soul Surround,
Till ye my Blessedness display.
No Soul but Stone, No Man but Clay am I,
No flesh, but Dust; till ye
Delight, invade to move my Ey,
And do replenish me.

My Sweet Informers and my Living Treasures
My great Companions, and my only Pleasures!

4

O what Incredible Delights, What Fires,
What Appetites, what Joys do ye
Occasion, what Desires,
What Heavenly Praises! While we see
What evry Seraphim above admires!
Your Jubilee and Trade
Ye are so Strangely, and Divinely made,
Shall never, never fade.
Ye ravish all my Soul, Of you I twice
Will speak. For in the Dark y'are Paradice.

Thoughts. III.

Thoughts are the Angels which we send abroad,
To visit all the Parts of Gods Abode.
Thoughts are the Things wherin we all confess
The Quintessence of Sin and Holiness
Is laid. All Wisdom in a Thought doth Shine,
By Thoughts alone the Soul is made Divine.
Thoughts are the Springs of all our Actions here
On Earth, tho they them selvs do not appear.
They are the Springs of Beauty, Order, Peace,
The Cities Gallantries, the feilds Increas.
Rule, Goverment and Kingdoms flow from them,
And so doth all the New Jerusalem.
At least the Glory, Splendor and Delight,
For tis by Thoughts that even she is Bright.
Thoughts are the Things wherwith even God is Crownd,
And as the Soul without them's useless found,

So are all other Creatures too. A Thought
Is even the very Cream of all he wrought.
All Holy fear, and Love, and Reverence,
With Honor, Joy and Prais, as well as Sence,
Are hidden in our Thoughts. Thoughts are the Things
That us affect: The Hony and the Stings
Of all that is, are Seated in a Thought,
Even while it seemeth weak, and next to Nought.
The Matter of all Pleasure, Virtue, Worth,
Grief, Anger, Hate, Revenge, which Words set forth,
Are Thoughts alone. Thoughts are the highest Things,
The very Offspring of the King of Kings.
Thoughts are a kind of Strange Celestial Creature,
That when they're Good, they're such in evry Feature,
They bear the Image of their father's face,
And Beautifie even all his Dwelling Place:
So Nimble and Volatile, unconfind,
Illimited, to which no Form's assignd,
So Changeable, Capacious, Easy, free,
That what it self doth pleas a Thought may be.
From Nothing to Infinitie it turns,
Even in a Moment: Now like fire it burns,
Now's frozen Ice: Now shapes the Glorious Sun,
Now Darkness in a Moment doth become.
Now all at once: Now crowded in a sand,
Now fils the Hemisphere, and sees a Land:
Now on a Suddain's Wider than the Skie,
And now runs Parile with the Deitie.
Tis such, that it may all or Nothing be.
And's made so Active Voluble and Free
Becaus tis Capable of all that's Good,
And is the End of all when understood.

A Thought can Clothe it self with all the Treasures
Of GOD, and be the Greatest of his Pleasures.
It all his Laws, and Glorious Works, and Ways,
And Attributs, and Counsels; all his Praise
It can conceiv, and Imitate, and give:
It is the only Being that doth live.
Tis Capable of all Perfection here,
Of all his Love and Joy and Glory there.
It is the only Beauty that doth Shine,
Most Great, Transcendent, Heavnly and Divine.
The very Best or Worst of Things it is,
The Basis of all Misery or Bliss.
Its Measures and Capacities are such,
Their utmost Measure we can never touch.
Here Ornament on Ornament may still
Be laid; Beauty on Beauty, Skill on Skill,
Strength Still on Strength, and Life it self on Life.
Tis Queen of all things, and its Makers Wife.
The Best of Thoughts is yet a thing unknown,
But when tis Perfect it is like his Own:
Intelligible, Endless, yet a Sphere
Substantial too: In which all Things appear.
All Worlds, all Excellences, Sences, Graces,
Joys, Pleasures, Creatures, and the Angels Faces.
It shall be Married ever unto all:
And all Embrace, tho now it seemeth Small.
A Thought my Soul may Omnipresent be.
For all it toucheth which a Thought can see.
Oh that Mysterious Being! Thoughts are Things,
Which rightly used make his Creatures Kings.

Desire.

1

For giving me Desire,
An Eager Thirst, a burning Ardent fire,
A virgin Infant Flame,
A Love with which into the World I came,
An Inward Hidden Heavenly Love,
Which in my Soul did Work and move,
And ever ever me Enflame,
With restlesse longing Heavenly Avarice,
That never could be satisfied,
That did incessantly a Paradice
Unknown suggest, and som thing undescried
Discern, and bear me to it; be
Thy Name for ever praisd by me.

2

My Parchd and Witherd Bones
Burnt up did seem: My Soul was full of Groans:
My Thoughts Extensions were:
Like Paces Reaches Steps they did appear:
They somwhat hotly did persue,
Knew that they had not all their due;
Nor ever quiet were:
But made my flesh like Hungry Thirsty Ground,
My Heart a deep profound Abyss,
And evry Joy and Pleasure but a Wound,
So long as I my Blessedness did miss.
O Happiness! A Famine burns,
And all my Life to Angwish turns!

3

Where are the Silent Streams,
The Living Waters, and the Glorious Beams,
The Sweet Reviving Bowers,
The Shady Groves, the Sweet and Curious Flowers,
The Springs and Trees, the Heavenly Days,
The Flowry Meads, and Glorious Rayes,
The Gold and Silver Towers?
Alass, all these are poor and Empty Things,
Trees Waters Days and Shining Beams
Fruits, Flowers, Bowers, Shady Groves and Springs,
No Joy will yeeld, no more then Silent Streams.
These are but Dead Material Toys,
And cannot make my Heavenly Joys.

4

O Love! ye Amities,
And Friendships, that appear abov the Skies!
Ye Feasts, and Living Pleasures!
Ye Senses, Honors, and Imperial Treasures!
Ye Bridal Joys! Ye High Delights;
That satisfy all Appetites!
Ye Sweet Affections, and
Ye high Respects! What ever Joys there be
In Triumphs, Whatsoever stand
In Amicable Sweet Societie
Whatever Pleasures are at his right Hand
Ye must, before I am Divine,
In full Proprietie be mine.

5

This Soaring Sacred Thirst,
Ambassador of Bliss, approached first,
Making a Place in me,
That made me apt to Prize, and Taste, and See,

For not the Objects, but the Sence
Of Things, doth Bliss to Souls dispence,
And make it Lord like Thee.
Sence, feeling, Taste, Complacency and Sight,
These are the true and real Joys,
The Living Flowing Inward Melting, Bright
And Heavenly Pleasures; all the rest are Toys:
All which are founded in Desire,
As Light in Flame, and Heat in fire.

Thoughts. IV.

In thy Presence there is fulness
of Joy, and at thy right hand there
are Pleasures for ever more.

Thoughts are the Wings on which the Soul doth flie,
The Messengers which soar abov the Skie,
Elijahs firey Charet, that conveys
The Soul, even here, to those Eternal Joys.
Thoughts are the privileged Posts that Soar
Unto his Throne, and there appear before
Our selvs approach. These may at any time
Abov the Clouds, abov the Stars may clime.
The Soul is present by a Thought; and sees
The New Jerusalem, the Palaces,
The Thrones and feasts, the Regions of the Skie,
The Joys and Treasures of the DEITIE.
His Wisdom makes all things so Bright and pure,
That they are Worthy ever to endure.
His Glorious Works his Laws and Counsels are,
When seen, all like himself, beyond compare.
All Ages with his Love and Glory Shine,
As they are his all Kingdoms are Divine.

Whole Hosts of Angels at his Throne attend,
And joyfull Praises from his Saints ascend.
Thousands of thousands Kneel before his face
And all his Benefits with Joy embrace.
His Goodness makes all Creatures for his Pleasure,
And makes itself his Creatures chiefest Treasure.
Almighty Power doth it self employ
In all its Works to make it self the Joy
Of all his Hosts, and to compleat the Bliss
Which Omnipresent and Eternal is.
His Omnipresence is an Endless Sphere,
Wherin all Worlds as his Delights appear.
His Beauty is the Spring of all Delight,
Our Blessedness, like his, is infinit.
His Glory Endless is and doth Surround
And fill all Worlds, without or End or Bound.
What hinders then, but we in heav'n may be
Even here on Earth did we but rightly see?
As Mountains, Charets, Horsemen all on fire,
To guard Elisha did of old conspire,
Which yet his Servant could not see, being blind,
Ourselvs environd with his Joys we find.
Eternity it self is that true Light,
That doth enclose us being infinite.
The very Seas do overflow and Swim
With Precious Nectars as they flow from him.
The Stable Earth which we beneath behold,
Is far more precious then if made of Gold.
Fowls Fishes Beasts, Trees Herbs and precious flowers,
Seeds Spices Gums and Aromatick Bowers,
Wherwith we are enclos'd and servd, each day
By his Appointment do their Tributes pay,
And offer up themselvs as Gifts of Love,
Bestowd on Saints, proceeding from above.

Could we but justly, wisely, truly prize
These Blessings, we should be above the Skies,
And Praises sing with pleasant Heart and Voice,
Adoring with the Angels should rejoyce.
The fertile Clouds give Rain, the Purer Air,
Is Warm and Wholsom, Soft and Bright and fair.
The Stars are Wonders which his Wisdom names,
The Glorious Sun the Knowing Soul enflames.
The very Heavens in their Sacred Worth,
At once serv us, and set his Glory forth.
Their Influences touch the Gratefull Sence,
They pleas the Ey with their Magnificence.
While in his Temple all his Saints do sing,
And for his Bounty prais their Heavenly King.
All these are in his Omnipresence still
As Living Waters from his Throne they trill.
As Tokens of his Lov they all flow down,
Their Beauty Use and Worth the Soul do Crown.
Men are like Cherubims on either hand,
Whose flaming Love by his Divine Command,
Is made a Sacrifice to ours; which Streams
Throughout all Worlds, and fills them all with Beams.
We drink our fill, and take their Beauty in,
While Jesus Blood refines the Soul from Sin.
His grievous Cross is a Supreme Delight,
And of all Heavenly ones the greatest Sight.
His Throne is neer, tis just before our face,
And all Eternitie his Dwelling place.
His Dwelling place is full of Joys and Pleasures,
His Throne a fountain of Eternal Treasures.
His Omnipresence is all Sight and Love,
Which whoso sees, he ever dwells above.
With soft Embraces it doth Clasp the Soul,
And Watchfully all Enemies controul.

It enters in, and doth a Temple find,
Or make a Living one with in the Mind.
That while Gods Omnipresence in us lies,
His Treasures might be all before our Eys:
For Minds and Souls intent upon them here,
Do with the Seraphims abov appear:
And are like Spheres of Bliss, by Lov and Sight,
By Joy, Thanksgiving, Prais, made infinite.
O give me Grace to see thy face, and be
A constant Mirror of Eternitie.
Let my pure Soul, transformed to a Thought,
Attend upon thy Throne, and as it ought
Spend all its Time in feeding on thy Lov,
And never from thy Sacred presence mov.
So shall my Conversation ever be
In Heaven, and I O Lord my GOD with Thee!

Goodnesse.

1

The Bliss of other Men is my Delight:
(When once my Principles are right:)
And evry Soul which mine doth see
A Treasurie.
The Face of GOD is Goodness unto all,
And while he Thousands to his Throne doth call,
While Millions bathe in Pleasures,
And do behold his Treasures
The Joys of all
On mine do fall
And even my Infinitie doth seem
A Drop without them of a mean Esteem.

2

The Light which on ten thousand faces Shines
The Beams which crown ten thousand Vines
With Glory and Delight, appear
As if they were,
Reflected only from them all for me,
That I a Greater Beauty there might see.
Thus Stars do Beautifie
The Azure Canopie
Gilded with Rayes
Ten thousand Ways
They serv me, while the Sun that on them shines
Adorns those Stars, and crowns those Bleeding Vines.

3

Where Goodness is within, the Soul doth reign.
Goodness the only Sovereign!
Goodness delights alone to see
Felicitie.
And while the Image of his Goodness lives
In me, whatever he to any gives
Is my Delight and Ends
In me in all my Friends
For Goodness is
The Spring of Bliss
And tis the End of all it gives away
And all it gives it ever doth enjoy.

4

His Goodness! Lord, it is his Highest Glory!
The very Grace of all his Story!
What other thing can me delight
But the Blest Sight

Of his Eternal Goodness? While his Love
His Burning Lov the Bliss of all doth prove
While it beyond the Ends
Of Heaven and Earth extends
And Multiplies
Above the Skies
His Glory Love and Goodness in my Sight,
Is for my Pleasure made more infinite.

5

The Soft and Swelling Grapes that on their Vines
Receiv the Lively Warmth that Shines
Upon them, ripen there for me:
Or Drink they be
Or Meat. The Stars salute my pleased Sence
With a Derivd and borrowed Influence
But better Vines do Grow
Far Better Wines do flow
Above, and while
The Sun doth Smile
Upon the Lillies there, and all things warme
Their pleasant Odors do my Spirit charm.

6

Their rich Affections me like precious Seas
Of Nectar and Ambrosia pleas.
Their Eys are Stars, or more Divine:
And Brighter Shine.
Their Lips are soft and Swelling Grapes, their Tongues
A Quire of Blessed and Harmonious Songs.
Their Bosoms fraught with Love
Are Heavens all Heavens above
And being Images of GOD, they are
The Highest Joys his Goodness did prepare.